Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų lietuvių dovanos Vytauto Didžiojo kultūros muziejaus Istoriniam skyriui

LTĮ Nacionalinio M. K. Čiurlionio dailės muziejaus Numizmatikos skyrių kreipėsi interesantai, klausdami apie Prano Narvydo dovaną muziejui. Bandant atsakyti, paaiškėjo, kad nėra visuomenei prieinamos išsamios informacijos apie muziejaus mecenatus, parėmusius muziejaus kolekcijas laikotarpiu iki sovietinės okupacijos. Vytauto Didžiojo kultūros muziejaus metraštyje, išleistame 1941 m., minimos tik pavardės ir tam tikri skaičiai. Straipsnis skirtas apibendrinti ir paviešinti Numizmatikos skyriuje saugomą informaciją apie dovanotojus ir jų indėlį į muziejaus rinkinius. Iki šiol visapusiškai ištyrinėta tik Aleksandro Mykolo Račkaus dovana. Tai yra didžiausias įnašas į muziejaus rinkinius, o kitų išeivių indėlis buvo užmirštas. Straipsnis – aprašomasis tyrimas, kuriame pateikiami duomenys apie Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų lietuvių dovanotojus ir jų dovanas, šiuo metu saugomas Nacionaliniame M. K. Čiurlionio dailės muziejuje chronologine tvarka. Reikšminiai žodžiai M. K. Čiurlionio dailės muziejus, numizmatika, kolekcijos. [Iš leidinio]

ENM. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art holds pre-war gifts of Lithuanian emigrants from the United States, which were donated to the History Department of Vytautas Magnus Culture Museum. The biggest gift for the History Department was donated in 1936, when Vytautas Magnus Culture Museum was being founded. The gift from Chicago collector Aleksandras Mykolas Račkus was handed over to the museum – about 50,000 pieces of exhibits collected by him and the Lithuanian Numismatic and History Society. They were brought to the First World Lithuanian Congress in Kaunas held in 1935. In accordance with the agreement with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Lithuania, A. M. Račkus, after receiving 100,000 litas, in 1936 brought the rest of his collections and on their basis the History Department of Vytautas Magnus Culture Museum was created. A. Račkus became the first director of this department. The gifts brought by him are stored in the Numismatics Department, the Applied Arts Department, the Photo Library and Documentation Department, the Graphics Department and the Museum Library at the National Art Museum. The donated exhibits allow to show the life of the first Lithuanian migrants to the USA.In 1938, after dismissing A. M. Račkus from the position of the head, other Lithuanians in the United States gave gifts to the History Department. In 1938, Pranas Narvydas donated his own numismatic collection (436 pieces) to the museum. In 1939, a letter, 4 stamps and 188 archival documents were donated by Pranciškus Mykolas Juras, a USA Catholics activist and priest. In the same year, the personal book-plates and documents of emigrants Kazimieras Stryza and his assistant Kazimieras Vidikauskas (149 pieces) and Ona Ramanauskienė-Lužienė (15 pieces) were handed over to the History Department. USA Lithuanians’ gifts reflected the emigrants’ life and their interests of the beginning of the 20th century. Thanks to them, the numismatics department has accumulated a collection of rare exhibits of phalleristics and sphragistics of the emigration, and the collection of numismatics has been supplemented with interesting exhibits. [From the publication]