"Širdį man smarkiai suspaudžia..." (Stanislavos Šlepetienės laiškai iš JAV draugei Lietuvoje)

LTStraipsnyje pristatomi Lietuvos liaudies buities muziejuje (toliau – LLBM) saugomi asmeniniai laiškai (LBM 50976–LBM 50993). Tai dviejų draugių (vienos – gyvenusios Lietuvoje, o kitos – dėl susiklosčiusių istorinių aplinkybių emigravusios į Jungtines Amerikos Valstijas) susirašinėjimas, trukęs nuo 1963 iki 1973 m. Šie laiškai atskleidžia vienos šeimos istoriją, kai kuriuos to laikotarpio gyvenimo ypatumus tiek JAV, tiek Lietuvoje, šiltus žmogiškus santykius ir Tėvynės ilgesį. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Laiškai, atsakymai į laiškus, tremtis, emigracija, gyvenimas JAV, sovietinė Lietuva, Palanga. [Iš leidinio]

ENIn 2014, Janina Samulionytė, an employee of the Open-Air Museum of Lithuania, received a bunch of letters from a collector living in Kaunas. They were written since December 1963 until June 1973. There were 18 envelopes, 13 letters and a Christmas card from the USA and 14 letters-answers to them from Lithuania. Two friends teachers were corresponding: Stanislava Šlepetienė and Mrs. Aurelija from Kaunas. In 1963, due to historical circumstances S. Šlepetienė went to live with her son in the USA, and Mrs. Aurelija lived all the time in Lithuania. The uniqueness of the correspondence is not only the survived letters with envelopes from the USA, but also the answers to the letters. The answers from Kaunas are drafts, with crossing out and corrections. Only the rewritten letters-answers were sent to the USA. According to the survived addresses and the names and surnames of the people mentioned in the letters, the relatives of S. Šlepetienė were found. They provided information, shared photos and memories. After obtaining interesting letters, however, with poor metrics, it was decided to find out more about the authors of the letters and their relatives, to supplement the data of the letters-exhibits (according to the collector, the letters were found near a garbage container in Kaunas).These simple letters reveal S. Šlepetienė’s longing for homeland, the warm human relations of two friends with relatives and other friends both in the USA and Lithuania. The paper introduces S. Šlepetienė, her husband Juozas, their children, her husband’s brother Kazimieras. S. Šlepetienė’s letters sensitively tell us about life in the USA, Lithuania and dear people who remained there. There is almost no letter that does not mention holiday spent in Palanga. In letters from Soviet Lithuania Mrs. Aurelija writes mainly about air, health, and briefly remembers common acquaintances and Palanga. Investigating LLBM’s stored letters (LBM 50976 – LBM 50993), the history of the Šlepečiai family was revealed. The data of the museum’s exhibits- letters found without metrics were supplemented. The letters have been inventoried, scanned, described and registered in the LIMIS system. [From the publication]