Lietuvos Mokslų Akademijos Vrublevskių Biblioteka - Rankraščių skyrius

  • The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences - Manuscripts Department

Address

Manuscripts Department
Žygimantų 1
Vilnius
01102
Lithuania

Phone

+370 5 262 36 67

Mandates/Sources of Authority

The objectives of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences - Manuscripts Department are as follows:

  • To amass, catalogue, preserve, study, and publicise the documentary heritage kept in the department’s holdings

  • To make manuscripts and other archival materials available to the library’s users

  • To advisie readers about documents kept in the department

  • To participate in national and international projects on documentary heritage.

Archival and Other Holdings

The manuscripts kept in the department’s holdings as of 2010 are divided into 395 collections. The majority of the manuscripts are from the 16th–20th centuries; the oldest one dates back to the 11th century. Most documents are in Latin, Ruthenian, Polish, Russian, or German, and from the late 16th century also in Lithuanian. They reflect the history of the present-day Republic of Lithuania, Belarus, Northern Poland, and Eastern Prussia.

The most valuable and compact sets of documents are:

  • the parchment collection (1421 unit, the 12th–20th century)
  • former stocks of church institutions (e.g., the archive of Vilnius Cathedral Capitula and part of Archepiscopal archives, 1387– 20th century)
  • the Vilnius Evangelical Reformers Synod Archive (16th–20th century)
  • archive of the dwindling community of Karaimes, a Turkish ethnic group living in Lithuania (17th–20th century)
  • part of the archive of the Sapiehas, magnates of the GDL (17th–19th century)
  • fragments of Lithuanian manorial archives (15th–20th century)
  • archives of Lithuanian national organisations and newspapers editorial boards that were active in the Vilnius region at the period of the annexation by Poland (1920–1939)
  • Ecclesiastical and other Russian manuscript books (11th–19th century)
  • collections of hand-drawn psalm books illustrations and Lithuanian artists’ drawings
  • archives of professors of the old Vilnius University
  • various collections of documents related to the political, economic, and cultural life of 16th–20th-century Lithuania
  • archives of prominent 20th-century Lithuanian scientists, members of the Academy, writers, architects, etc.

Finding Aids, Guides, and Publication

The search for the documents from the department‘s holdings can be done using :

  1. Card catalogue
  2. Published guides
  3. Electronic databases
  4. Online manuscript catalogues

The card catalogue of the department‘s holdings is available in the Tadeusz Wroblewski Reading Room. An incomplete systematic catalogue (search by personal names, location names and subject index) is also available.

Published guides

Abramavičius, Vladas. Rankraščių rinkiniai. – Vilnius, 1963. Feodalinių žemės valdų Lietuvoje inventorių aprašymas / sud. Vladas Abramavičius. – Vilnius, 1963. Jasas, Rimantas. Pergamantų katalogas. – Vilnius, 1980. Kova už Tarybų valdžią Lietuvoje : 1918–1940 m. rankraščių bibliografinė rodyklė / sud. V. Abramavičius, J. Šliubauskienė. // Bibliotekininkystė ir bibliografija. – Vilnius, 1961, t. 1, p. 23–125. Labanauskienė, Danutė. Autografų kolekcija. – Vilnius, 1989. Labanauskienė, Danutė. Rankraščių fondai. – Vilnius, 1994. Lietuvos TSR mokslų akademijos rankraštinių darbų ir disertacijų bibliografija 1946–1956 / V. Abramavičius, K. Čepienė. – Vilnius, 1958. Petkevičiūtė, Danutė. Rankraščiai apie 1863 m. sukilimą Lietuvoje : bibliografinė rodyklė. // Bibliotekininkystė ir bibliografija. – Vilnius, 1963, t. 2, p. 213–303. Przewodnik po zbiorach rękopisów w Wilnie / opracowała Maria Kocójowa. – Kraków, 1993. Revoliucinis judėjimas Lietuvoje ir Baltarusijoje 1905–1907 metais / N.A. Leškovič. – Vilnius, 1958. Добрянский, Флавиан Николаевич. Описание рукописей Виленской публичной библиотеки, церковно-славянских и русских. – Вильна, 1882. Описание рукописнаго отделения Виленской публичной библиотеки. – Вильна, 1895–1906, вып. 1–5.

Electronic databases

Online manuscript catalogues

Compilation of the catalogues began in 1997. For a list of collections that have such catalogues, see:

http://www.mab.lt/en/195/departments/department-manuscripts

Opening Times

Reader services are provided in the Tadeusz Wroblewski Reading Room (2 Floor, Room 30) which is open Monday to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The reading room is shared with the Rare Books Department and there are 18 work stations for readers.

The documents from Manuscripts Department can be ordered until 4 p.m. Readers are kindly requested to order documents in advance.

Conditions of Access

Reproduction Services

The manuscripts may be copied in accordance with the Library‘ policies:

  1. Documents presented for copying have to be in a good or satisfactory shape.

  2. Documents from the Manuscript Department may be copied only with the permision in writing from the Director.

  3. The customer has to indicate the purpose of copying (research, publication or other).

  • In order to protect from damage such items as restored documents, old books (pre-XIX c.), photo documents (pre-1960), rare manuscripts (pre-XX c.), old periodicals (pre-XX c.), hard bound or large format periodicals (pre-1945) , it is permitted only to photograph, make microfilms or digitize them.
  • Copying using personal printing equipment is prohibited.
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