Sisters of St. Casimir

I love doing this research! I spent about five hours in two wonderful Lithuanian collections in Chicago on January 30. I had driven past the building complex of the Sisters of St. Casimir on a previous trip to Chicago, and took the outside pictures. I learned that the library was overseen by Sister Theresa Papsis, and had a phone conversation with her about the library. I hadn’t set up a meeting, but lucked out that she could leave me to wander in the museum until she was able to talk to me. She is a musician, their organist, with many responsibilities, among which is taking care of the oldest Lithuanian library in the States.

The museum was in three rooms with numerous display cases of the prerequisite amber, wood carvings, straw ornaments, elaborate Easter eggs, and dolls in Lithuanian costumes. There were also plenty of variations on the intricate roadside crosses, some paintings, a couple of manikins with Lithuanian costumes, a hope chest, a large" kankles," a string instrument very similar to the Latvian “kokle.” I especially liked a long display case of stylized dolls depicting a wedding scene. The bride was all in white linen. (That sounds normal in American wedding terms, but Latvians married in their best clothes, which meant a folk costume of the region, and the region determines the colors & designs allowed.) The bridesmaids were crying, because they were losing their “sister” to another village. Behind the wedding party, musicians were playing. 

It was the third museum room I found most intriguing, as that contained the history of the Sisters of St. Casimir (SSC). St. Casimir is the patron saint of Lithuania. There was a cross made by high school students with a collage of historical photos for the 100 year celebration of the order. One case contained the artifacts of Sister Maria Kaupas, one of the founders of SSC. There was the desk of Rev. Anthony Staniukynas, who had gotten his doctorate in Jerusalem in 1900. There were other religious artifacts, sculptures of Christ, portraits, dolls in nun habits. Then there were two  large „books” of photos – one being the history of SSC, the other of all the sisters – with a little mass card for each sister that was printed when she died. I wanted to find the one for Sister Mary Perpetua Gudas, who maintained the library until she died at age 104. For the last seven years of her life she had trained Sister Theresa. When Sister Theresa joined me, I asked lots of questions trying to understand how the SSC came to be and the work to which they have committed themselves.

Rev. Anthony Kaupas grew up in Lithuania, but did not want to study in Russia or Poland, his only options at the time, so he came to America and was ordained in Detroit and given a parish in Scranton, PA. He asked his sisters to come to America to help, they did and became sisters there. They founded the SSC in 1907 in Scranton, but Rev. Anthony Staniukynas encouraged them to move to Chicago, as there were more Lithuanians there. The first half of the convent was built in 1911, with the second half completed in 1918. (The library and museum are housed in this old portion of the complex.) They started a school, later built a high school, and took over responsibility for Holy Cross Hospital in 1929. The chapel with its wondrous Italian marble and stained glass windows, was built in 1925. At one time they were also to become an orphanage, but ended up focusing on education and health, serving the local community, which has become quite needy. They hold a monthly (or weekly) food pantry pick-up for their community.

The library was begun in 1911 when the building was first built, making it the oldest Lithuanian library in the U.S. The library itself is light and cozy. It has a collection of over 4000 books, mostly in Lithuanian. They have some recent publications, but do not purchase books or actively add to the collection. There is a card catalog. One of their treasures is a collection of bound periodicals. Some go back to the late 19th century, like Apszieta that they have back from 1892. This was published in Tilze, a town in Germany, as the Russian czar did not allow Lithuanians to publish in their own language, so books and periodicals were printed in Tilze (this is now Sovetsk in the Kalingrad district of Russia, what was once East Prussia) and then smuggled across the border into Lithuania. I have been told this is such a popular historical event, that kids plays have been written about it. I have to look up details of this, as this is definitely an interesting tid-bit for my history of printing chapter. Latvians did not have this restriction, but the Latgalians did, in eastern Latvia. In my brief scan of the periodicals, it looked like most of them were from the first half of the 20th century. It may be worth my while to go back some day and make a list from their catalog.

I asked about archives and the sisters have kept a careful history of their order. These are in a separate room and are the responsibility of sister Therese Ann Banach, who has a library degree. She has started to scan some of the archives. The library itself is not automated in any way.

The future of this collection is not clear, as the order of 77 sisters have to oversee way more than they can possibly do. The school is becoming a charter school and will eventually move into the hands of the Chicago public school system. They are looking for a partner for their hospital.

I was gifted a history of the SSC and some Lithuanian chocolate, so I may have to come back and correct some of my facts here. The graciousness, knowledge and interest in the world of Sister Theresa was amazing. My utmost admiration and respect for these sisters. If I was more religious and could give up a few vices, this would be a great way to serve humanity.

American Lithuanian Archives & Libraries Conference

Lithuanian Research and Studies Center

Close to 60 people gathered in Chicago on Labor Day weekend, September 3-4, 2011 to discuss issues around the preservation of Lithuanian archives and, to a lesser degree, libraries. At least 7 of the speakers were from Lithuania, the rest of the participants were mostly from the Chicago area and Washington DC, with other key players from Putnam, CT, Baltimore, and other places.

It is a strange feeling to sit for two whole days and listen to information vital to your research in a language you don’t quite understand. I have never studied Lithuanian, just know that it is similar to Latvian, and that some words that sound like Latvian words have different meanings. Like “mokslo,” which is like “maksla” or “art” in Latvian, but means “research” in Lithuanian. Or “kambarys” – sounds like “kambaris” or “closet” in Latvian, but means “room.” It was a mental exercise to listen intently to a couple of dozen speakers at this Lithuanian archive and library conference, and see if I can get a gist of what they are saying. Often I would catch a phrase like “where the problem lies,” but then would not get the problem itself. There were certain cadences to the language that sounded familiar, especially when people started arguing. I was lucky that on the first day, before the conference started, I had talked to a musicologist Loreta, who was very willing to translate main points to me. I had the program in partial translation, so I knew who was speaking, what organization they were representing, and what their topic was supposed to be. I seemed to understand more of what was said by the émigré Lithuanians, than from the officials from Lithuania. I asked questions during the breaks and had dinner in English with two of the organizers, who helped fill in many of the gaps. On the second day I had another translator. 

Dale Lukas, Rolandas Kačinskas,
Antanas Gražulis, Robertas Vitas

This conference was organized by Dale Lukas (Lukiene), chair of the American Lithuanian Archives Committee, whom I met around 15 years ago at an AABS conference. She is also one of the people responsible for compiling an extensive list of Lithuanian Archives and Libraries in the US that I have been using as a guide to my research. Much of the information I want to put into my directory is already there. I just have a slightly different take on these collections, will be organizing the information differently, and want to visit the major collections, so I can accurately reflect what is available to researchers. Plus I am asking questions about available databases and online tools. Though she was not the first to speak, in her introductory remarks Dale talked about Lithuanian immigration history being more than 100 years old and that a lot of things have been created over those years to preserve that history, and that they need to continue to preserve it. Her goals for the conference were to get people together to talk about what can be done, what problems they face. She was also interested in making the community aware that archives need to be preserved and that the community will need to support these efforts with time and resources. Dale has also started the conversation with the archives in Lithuania and hopes that there can be an exchange of specialists and researchers, organized workshops, and common guidelines, methodologies, standards.

The conference was opened by Robertas Vitas, the chair of the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center (LRSC) and our host. The conference was held in the very comfortable café of the Center. Robert remarked that the Lithuanian nation doesn’t just exist in Lithuania, but it exists wherever there are Lithuanians that are active, where there is a Lithuanian consciousness. He believes archives and libraries too should exist wherever there are Lithuanians and argues strongly against sending everything to Lithuania, as someone had recently proposed in a letter to the newspaper Draugas. Robertas believes in the Global Nation – a concept I saw repeated throughout the conference. Rolandas Kačinskas, representing the Lithuanian embassy in the US, addressed the conference and encouraged everyone to work together.

The first presenter was Ramojus Kraujelis, Lithuania’s chief archivist. He gave an overview of Lithuanian archives, and his PowerPoint slides contained the structure of their archival system, which I will have to get and translate. I wish the wireless had worked in that room, as I could have taken phrases from his slides and put them into Google Translate and gotten a better sense of what he said. I believe his presentation will answer many of my questions and give me the structure of archives in Lithuania that I want to describe in my handbook. (I brought in my more powerful laptop on the second day and was able to connect to the wireless and do some translations.)

The next presenter was Mirga Giriuviene, the director of the American Lithuanian Cultural Archive (ALKA) in Putnam, CT that I visited in June. Even before she got the PowerPoint slides going, I could actually understand what she was talking about, as I had seen it all with my own eyes. The woman next to me claimed that this was the biggest and best Lithuanian archive. After seeing the collection in the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center the following day, I doubt ALKA is the largest, but it was definitely impressive when I visited. They are still making a decision on which cataloging system to use. I believe that Mirga was able to talk to Irene from the Balzekas Museum library that has chosen a less expensive version of the cataloging system used in Lithuanain public libraries.

Augustinas Idzelis, a historian and philosopher, placed the whole archive conversation withina historical space. He quoted Lithuanian philosopher Juozus Girnius, that has described the history of a nation as its roots, Lithuania itself being the trunk with branches all over the world. If we cut off the branches, we lose the history of Lithuanians in the U.S. I was told this was an eloquent argument against sending all materials back to Lithuania. He also spoke about the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, its collections, programs and issues. Though I did not understand much from his presentation, I saw the extensive collections Sunday, and plan to return and get a tour in English with more detailed explanation of their work.

After lunch we heard from Dalius Žižys, the director of the Lithuania Central State Archive in Vilnius. He described their archive, and if I understood correctly, they have the historical collection from the first independence through the second independence 1918 until 1990. I will get the details later, but I assume they divide up responsibilities like they do in Latvia, with a historical collection and then the ongoing collection. I understood that they keep all their documents in a climate controlled environment and are working on digitizing the most important and most requested or useful documents. I believe I heard 700 million pages have already been scanned. (I have to find out what kind of numbers make sense to quote when talking about digitizing. I figured out that at work we just scanned about 20,000 pages for 50 years worth of the journal Reading Horizons in a few months this spring and summer – in between other projects.) They are also digitizing films, sound recordings, and photographs. Director Žižys demonstrated their database, that can be searched by topic and documents can be browsed, bringing up images of the actual document. They are still resolving security issues with this database, so it is not available online, just within the archive.

Church at the Lithuanian
Center

Next up was Stanley Balzekas, the president of the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Cultural and I understood everything, because he spoke in English! He explained that the museum was established 45 years ago and that every museum needs a library, which is why they started collecting books and archives to support their collection. He has been on the board of the Chicago Public Library and is well connected in Chicago. He is a visionary and asks questions like what will people want 25 years from now. He encouraged giving scholarships to students studying humanities and using Lithuanian libraries and archives. He believes collections should be live and may need to specialize. He talked about getting advice from the Field Museum, so I believe the Balzekas Museum is also one of those Chicago cultural organizations that get support from the city like the Chicago Latvian Museum. There were at least three employees from the Balzekas museum at this conference – Rita Janz, the director, Irene Pumputiene, the librarian that I have met previously, and Karile Vaikute, the genealogist. I talked a bit with Karile, and she explained that her role is mainly as a link between people researching their families and Lithuania, explaining the Lithuanian language and name endings and how archives work in Lithuania. They also have a collection of obituaries from Lithuanian and American sources, as well as books about regions of Lithuania.

Vytautas Žalys, the Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large, a role I do not quite understand, addressed the topic of Lithuanian Archives owned by other countries. I understood him to say, that the Lithuanian governmental archives were just established in 2009, though I am sure governmental materials have always been collected, maybe they became more active a few years ago. Ambassador Žalys did address an interesting question about Lithuanian archives that are scattered throughout the world because of history. Some of the oldest archives are located in Russia, because Russia governed Lithuanian lands for so many years. Some are in Germany, especially concerning the territory of Klaipeda. During wars, archives get stolen or moved, e.g. the allied powers divided documents they found in Germany, so Lithuanian documents could be anywhere.

The first day of the conference ended with a discussion about a new American Lithuanian archive and research center. Robertas Vitas gave the background and explained the proposed project. I will need to get a translation of his article in Draugas, before I dare set down any details, but this is a huge project that will need the support of the whole Lithuanian community. After the introduction by Robertas, a panel of stakeholders expressed their opinions, and as I was told later, all of them supported the idea in pricinciple, as long as funding is found for the project. The panel included Stanley Balzekas, Gediminas Deveikis from the scout archive and museum, Dalia Cidzikaite from the newspaper Draugas, Rimas Griskelis from the Lithuanian Foundation, Giedrius Subacius from the Lithuanian Studies Department at University of Illinois at Chicago, Skaiste Aniuliene, from the Lithuanian general consulate, and Vytautas Žalys, Ambassador at Large. Many other participants rose to make comments or ask questions, and my sense was that most of the concerns were about financing a project of this magnitude.

My day ended with a delightful discussion of the Lithuanian and Latvian communities in English over Chicago deep dish pizza with Robertas Vitas and Vytas Beleška. They filled in a lot of gaps on what I had not understood in the day’s proceedings and gave me some background information about the need for the new Center. I see the need and wish them the best of luck in realizing this vision.

Ramojus Kraujelis, Daiva Barzdukiene

Daiva Barzdukiene is from the Library of Congress where she acquired Lithuanian materials (among other responsibilities) before she retired. She is now working with the Lithuanian World Community to document Lithuanian archives. Her set of handouts is  very valuable, and will be even more so when I can get them translated into English. They consist of:

• Guidelines for Lithuanian archives around the world, including what kinds of materials should be preserved
• Detailed description of what personal documents should be kept – biographical, correspondence, memoirs, creative materials, ecnomic, etc.
• List of institutions with archives of Lithuanians abroad
• List of institutions in Lithuania that may be accepting archives from the emigre community in the future 
• List of major Lithuanian libraries and museums and their specialties
• Sample of survey questions asked of archives.

I was able to talk to Daiva before her presentation and she explained that Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas received a grant to document archives of Lithuanians that have gone abroad. They sent surveys out to 300 Lithuanian institutions and have received 30 responses from collections that have these archives and 50 institutions that report that they do not have these types of materials. They have five doctoral students who will be visiting all the larger institutions to compile this data, where the staff is too busy to do so. The plan is to put all of this information into a unified database, so if someone is researching a particular person or organization, they will be able to look up all the places that have some archival material on this person or organization. I believa Daiva will be a very important contact for me while I work on gathering information for my handbook. I was not planning on providing that level of detail – what archives are where, but I definitely want to point to any lists or databases that provide this information.

Maryte (is this like the Latvian Marite?) Patlaba talked about the oldest Lithuanian library in the U.S., the Baltimore Lithuanian House Library and Archive, established in 1908. They have about 5000 books and have revived activities after a 10 year hiatus. Someone pointed out that this has one of the best local community archives – about Lithuanians of Baltimore.  I will definitely have to visit this collection.

Gediminas Deveikis is the chair of the Lithuanian Scout Association archive & museum, which is located in the Lithuanian center in Lamont, IL. I believe this was the center I visited in 1989 and was told that this center was purchased, when a large portion of the Lithuanians moved out to the southwestern suburbs. Deveikis explained the archive was started in 1980, formally established in 1984 and in 2005 they published a catalog of the collection -  Lietuviu skautu sajunga archyvo-muziejaus katalogas. (I looked it up and the only copy in WorldCat is at the Library of Congress. They have four people working on the archive on Tuesdays and have close to 300 banker’s boxes of materials. There is a fund that supports their work, but the are running out of room and the rent has gone up too much. They would like to digitize their collection.

Vytas Beleška is the manager of the music archive at the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center (LRSC), as well as a musician himself.  He explained what was in the archive, but also talked about new technologies, the online environment, being able to transfer sound and video recordings to new digital technologies that take up little space, thus resolving many of the physical preservation issues, as well as solving the question on whether things need to be kept here or sent to Lithuania. He also talked about uses of Web 2.0 and social networking for disseminating archives, though he admitted those are labor intensive activities. He gave an example of Lithuania getting ready to host the European basketball championship. Vytas has put up on the LRSC Facebook page a video clip from 1939, where Lithuania trounced Finland. He also talked of cloud computing, storing materials on other people’s servers “in the cloud.” The one time I commented was to say that digitizing was not preserving, and that a preservation plan has to be created for migrating digitized materials to constantly new technologies.

Daiva Kapkute and Dalia Kuziniene, fellows at the Lithuanian Emigration Institute in Kaunas, spoke about their institute. (I heard about this at the conference in Germany.) „Its main purpose is to collect, study, preserve, and exhibit the archival materials that constitute the cultural, political, and scholarly heritage of the Lithuanian diaspora, embracing both organizations and individuals.” From their website. The Institute supports the Center for Lithuanian Diaspora Studies at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. They publish books, a journal and organize conferences, seminars and exhibits. They talked of having a single database with information about what is available in all archives, but I did not think to ask if this was the same project described by Daiva Barzdukiene. They were sitting together at one table, so I will assume that it is the same. 

The last session of the conference was a potpourri of U.S. Lithuanian organization archives and their activities.

Dale Lukiene from the American Lithuanian Archive committee spoke about sending  letters to 60 organizations asking about their archives and has received 3 responses so far. She also pointed out the Lithuanian World Archives list on the LRSC site.

Rimas Griškelis spoke about the Lithuanian Foundation and the issues they have with their own archives. He made the observation that documentation of their organization and others may be more in English as language skills decline. They publish a history of the foundation on major anniversaries – 10, 25, etc. They regularly support organizations such as the LRSC.

Saulius Kuprys spoke about Amerikos Lietuviu Taryba (ALT) or Lithuanian American Council, founded in 1915 and representing the interests of the Lithuanian-American community and cooperating with Latvians and Estonians. Their archival material is distributed in various places including the LRSC and Balzekas Museum, some was in Connecticut, where they had a fire. The Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) archives are at the Immigration History Research Center in MN.

Skirmante Miglinas showing a 1908 newspaper

Daile Cidzikaite discussed the largest Lithuanian newspaper  Draugas that has been published for over 100 years. Lituanus printed an article about Draugas, when it had its 100th anniversary in 2009 by Danguole Kyvlis, another librarian I met some years ago. She has compiled a list of where Draugas is to be found, though it sounds like there may not be a complete set of the newspaper anywhere. The newspaper has been partially microfilmed and the Library of Congress has the largest set of these microfilms. People at Mazvydas have been indexing the paper since 1990, and the Saturday cultural supplement has been indexed since 1973. Mazvydas will be digitizing all the issues of Draugas that they have. Some of them are online at http://www.epaveldas.lt/ These are the kinds of things I want to clarify, so researchers know where to go.

After the conference we had the opportunity to take a tour of the various collections in the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center. I will definitely return to have a private tour and explanations in English, but it was definitely an impressive collection. They have around 115,000 books in the library, extensive archives in many different rooms, a music collection, a medical museum and archive, and museum showcases along one long corridor as well as throughout the building of crosses, amber, military gear, medals, stamps, a folk costume, crafts and much more.

I still have a lot to learn, but I am thankful I found out about this conference and was able to attend, as I now have some idea of the Lithuanian archive and library situation. They may have many issues to resolve, but I am afraid that both the Lithuanians and Estonians are way ahead of American Latvians in preserving their archives.

Baltic Conference in Münster Germany

November 19-21, 2010

This was a conference to start the discussion about networking and working together to gather information, documentation on the Baltic exile/émigré experience. Geert Franzenburg had received funding from his Lutheran diocese to call this conference together, as part of his work with the German-Latvian friendship society Draudziba. We were all very grateful to him for organizing this conference and discussion, since no one in the Baltic community has done this recently.

There was an evening presentation in German by Valters Nollendorfs, a former German literature professor from the University of Wisconsin Madison, who spent at least one year as the director of the Latvian high school in Münster in the late 1980's. He has spent the last 10 years working for the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. His task was to present the Baltic exile experience to a German audience and to show the role they played in bringing about the new independence. He started with a very personal story of how he as a young boy stood on a ship leaving Latvia in 1944 and everyone sang the Latvian anthem, which he called one of the most non-military anthems in the world. He went on to explain how the exiles lived in Germany, organized themselves, dispersed to other countries, continued activities both cultural/educational and political, and the role they have played in rebuilding the countries after independence. (I was extremely proud of myself to have understood most of what he said, even though my German is minimal)

The next day we had eight presentations and discussions. Two museums were represented. Marianna Auliciema talked about the Latvians Abroad museum and research center, which is only three years old and has been gathering materials and Latvian stories from even as far as Brazil, but is still finalizing the purchase of a building for the museum in Liepaja. They have produced a few exhibits in other spaces, are trying to define their role in collecting archives and books, and are doing fundraising for the museum.

Valters Nollendorfs talked about the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which was founded soon after the independence in 2003 and is a well established fixture in the center of old Riga. Its mission is to portray the three occupations (Soviet, Nazi, and Soviet again) suffered by Latvia and Latvians from 1940-1991. The exhibit in the former Red Riflemen museum has 100,000 visitors a year, and is visited by statesmen from around the world including the emperor of Japan and Queen of England. The museum collects archival materials – documents, pictures and other unique exile materials. The plan is to expand the building and exhibit, so Nollendorfs shared these plans with us. Since Latvia is still struggling to get out of the economic crisis, funding is always a critical issue. There are plans for creating a virtual exhibit.

Maija Krūmiņa shared information about an oral history project, since life stories are a critical part of our cultural heritage and can be valuable primary sources about the Latvian experience. The Latvian National Oral History project  was established in 1992 within the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Latvia. Māra Zirnīte has been working tirelessly on this for years, as has her partner in the United States – Maija Hinkle. They project has collected about 2000 interviews on tape, most have been transcribed, some published, and they are planning to digitize them in the near future.

Kaja Kumeer-Hauskanomm was the Estonian representative at this conference and is a doctoral student at Tartu University studying Estonian émigrés. Tartu University has a Center for Estonian Diaspora Studies, an interdisciplinary research unit. They organize conferences and publish books. Though they get donations of books and archives, they cannot collect a lot of material themselves and pass them on to other institutions and libraries. Kumeer-Hauskanomm is also part of the Baltic Heritage Network, formed in 2005 to share information on sources of research on Baltic peoples abroad. They organize meetings to discuss research in this area and are working on getting materials on the Web. Kumeer-Hauskanomm’s own research is about Estonian refugees 1945-52. She has found extensive archives and a database on the Estonians that went to Denmark.

Kristina Pecia is a Lithuanian student at the University of Münster, who talked about research on Lithuanian emigration. She defined four waves of emigration: 1860-1920, 1920-40, after WW II, and recent emigration. Life in exile or emigration provides a wide range of fields to study including the problems of leaving home, and the history and development of political, religious, social, professional and educational organizations. The Lithuanians have two centers for researching emigration – the Lithuanian Emigration Institute in Kaunas and the Lithuanian Institute of Culture in Germany.

Geert Franzenburg talked about pulling all of this together, continuing discussions. He is also working with the University of Münster to catalog online the large collection of Latvian books in the Latvian Center at Muenster.

Inese Auzina Smith was unable to attend, but sent in an overview of Latvians in Britain, read by Nollendorfs. Smith referred to numerous publications about Latvians in Britain, as well as her work in the Latvian Documentation Center, which has compiled extensive archives including complete documentation of the central Latvian organization in Britain. 

I talked about my Baltic research handbook project and how it evolved from various previous projects - a list of libraries with Latvian materials (1989), the Baltic Library Directory (1993) and national bibliographies in the Baltic States (2008-10). in 2002 articles were published by others on Baltic materials in British, German and North American Libraries. Changes are occurring in libraries and archives throughout the US and elsewhere, and numerous Baltic organizations are selling their buildings and downsizing. I was very excited to be part of this conversation, to network with others interested in Baltic research.

On Sunday Karlis Kangars led a tour of Münster, which I was unable to attend, as I had yet to look through the library and archive at the Latvian Center at Münster.

The group gathered in Münster was small, but very interesting. Among the other attendees (and this is in no way a complete list, but basically those I had a chance to talk to, and took pictures of) were:

Mara Daneberga, the head of the Letonica department of the National Library of Latvia

            

Magdalene Huelmann, Baltic philology professor at the University of Münster 

Zuze Krēsliņa, the office manager of the Latvian Center in Münster

Hauke Siemen, student of Baltic history in Germany

Welcome

This idea for a Baltic Research Handbook has been bouncing around in my head for a while. I just received my tenure this year and am eligible for a sabbatical. A research handbook for students and scholars researching the Baltic States as well as resources for those in the Baltics wanting to research the Baltic communities outside the countries themselves, seems like the perfect project. I am searching for the best ways to communicate with others about my project, involve people in providing information, and I would not be averse to having some co-authors on this, or having people write certain sections with full recognition. I will try to keep basic information on the project available on my website at work: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~bundza/baltic-research/ If you are interested in the project, please fill in your contact information at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3L9DSSF