The Wroblewski Library of
the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences

Žygimantų g. 1, LT-01102 Vilnius, Lithuania
Telephone +370 5 262 95 37, E-mail biblioteka@mab.lt

Lietuviškai

Manuscripts Department

Žygimantų St. 1,  LT-01102 Vilnius
+370 5 262 36 67

T. Vrublevskis' name reading room

Erika Kuliešienė
Head of department
erika.kuliesienemab.lt

Reader services are provided  in the  Tadeusz Wroblewski  Reading Room (2 Floor, Room 30):
Mondays–Fridays 8.00–19.00

The documents from Manuscripts Department have to be ordered till 16.00. The readers are kindly requested to order the documents in advance.
Reading room is shared with the Rare books department, there are working 18 places for readers.

Regulations for the use of Manuscripts 

Functions:

  • amassing, cataloguing, preservation, studying and publicizing the documentary heritage kept in the department‘s holdings;
  • making manuscripts and information materials available to the Library‘s users;
  • consulting the readers on the documents kept in the department;
  • participation in national and international projects on documentary heritage.

The manuscripts kept in the department‘s holdings as of 2010 are divided into 395 collections. The majority of the manucscripts belong to the 16th-20th century, the oldest one reaching as far back as the 11th century.  Most documents are in the Latin, Ruthenian, Polish, Russian, German languages,  and starting from the late 16 the century also in Lithuanian.   They reflect the past of the present Republic of Lithuania, Belarus, Northern Poland, and Eastern Prussia.

The most valuable and compact sets of documents are:

  • Parchment collection (1421 unit, the 12th – 20th century), 
  • Former stocks of church institutions ( for ex., the archive of Vilnius Cathedral Capitula and part of Archepiscopal archives, 1387 –the 20th century);
  • The Vilnius Evangelical Reformers Synod Archive (the 16th-20th century);
  • Archive of the dwindling community of Karaimes, a Turkish ethnic group living in Lithuania (the 17th – 20th century);
  • Part of the archive of the Sapiehas, magnates of the GDL (the 17the-19th century);
  • Fragments of Lithuanian manorial archives (15th-20th century); 
  • Archives of Lithuanian national organizations and  newspapers‘ editorial boards  functioning in the Vilnius region at the period of the annexion by Poland (1920-1939);
  • Ecllesiastical and other Russian manuscript books (11th – 19th century); 
  • Collections of hand-drawn psalm books illustrations and Lithuanian artists‘ drawings;
  • Archives of the old Vilnius University‘s professors;
  • 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.

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

  1. Card catalogue
  2. Printed information publications
  3. Electronic databases
  4. Manuscript electronic catalogue

1. 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.

2. Printed information publications:

  • 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.

3. Electronic databases:

4. Manuscript electronic catalogue

The catalogue started to be compiled in 1997.  It is possible to perform a search for the documents from  the following collections :

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).
    1. 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.
    2. Copying using personal printing equipment is prohibited.