Lietuvos istorijos metraštis

This article examines the unpublished administrative documents of the governors and voivodes of Vitebsk and their deputies (vice-governors and vice-voivodes) from the 1490s to 1564. Twenty-two such documents were found in various manuscript repositories in Lithuania and Latvia, nine of which are provided in the Appendix at the end of this article. The article is divided into two parts. In the first, the documents under study are classified chronologically and according to their content in order to distinguish between the different areas of administrative activity of the governors, voivodes, and deputies. In the second part, the documents are discussed in the context of sources directly related to the governors, voivodes, and deputies who held office during the period under study.

This article examines crimes committed on the navigable rivers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in the 16th–18th centuries as a social and legal phenomenon. Using the Lithuanian Statutes, other legal sources, and court records, it analyzes the relationship between rivers and land highways, their legal protection, and the specific regulation of crimes on waterways. Particular attention is paid to rivers as spaces of crime and to the role of geographical and hydrological factors. The study discusses documented attacks and robberies of vessels, their circumstances and forms, as well as the offenders, their social backgrounds, and their organization. It also briefly addresses other, less frequent river crimes. The article helps to assess the safety of navigation and adds a social dimension to research on the waterway infrastructure of the GDL.

This article analyzes demographic data from the Seda and Telšiai (Samogitia region) parishes in the 18th century, based on surviving baptism, marriage, and burial registers. Employing a comparative perspective, the study examines the number of baptisms, the seasonality of baptisms and marriages, the geographical and social mobility of parishioners, and mortality patterns across different age groups. Prenuptial pregnancies and illegitimate children are also part of the broader analysis of marriages and fertility. The comparison of two neighboring parishes allows for the assessment of whether towns that played different roles within the region exhibited distinct demographic patterns in the 18th century.

This article focuses on the mentally ill patients who were treated at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Vilnius in the early 19th century (306 cases). Based on the hospital’s register of admissions, the research reveals the social and age structure of this category of patients, the illnesses diagnosed, and the features of their treatment. The research shows that these patients were mostly young to middle-aged men coming from different social and occupational backgrounds, but nonetheless united by both their non-local origins and relative poverty. They were usually diagnosed with mania, melancholia, or hypochondria, but some diagnoses featured less specific definitions. During the period in question, three quarters of patients left the hospital “sane” (sanus), whereas others left the institution on their own initiative, were transferred to other institutions, or died. The research reveals how the mentally ill were treated at an institution supervised by a religious community representing a semiprofessional tradition of medicine.

As early as November 1918, when the first government of independent Lithuania was being formed, the Ministry of Public Works and Food was established to address the shortage of ‘work and bread’ faced by urban residents during the war. The loss of Vilnius at the turn of 1919 forced the government to revise its underlying social attitudes, focusing increasingly on the problems of the provinces and rural areas. Established on 1 February 1919, the Chief Supply Board (a de facto ministry) was tasked with addressing issues related to supplies and provision of food to both the military and the civilian population. In April 1919, when the third government was being formed, the Ministry of Public Works and Food was replaced by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, and the Chief Supply Board was replaced by the Ministry of Supply and Food. In this way an attempt was made to respond more effectively to the rapidly evolving challenges of social policy while adapting to political and geopolitical changes in the region. Institutional changes also meant that, in addition to addressing the consequences of the war, growing attention began to be paid to social problems in times of peace. However, due to a financial crisis in the state, its administrative apparatus was downsized in late summer 1919: the aforementioned ministries were abolished, and their functions were transferred to the ministries of the interior and of national defence.

After Lithuania declared independence in 1918 and Jewish intellectuals began to return from various parts of the former Russian Empire, a Yiddish cultural movement started to take shape. This process, however, faced numerous challenges, as both internal and external factors hindered the self-organization of Yiddish activists. In response, local intellectuals sought to strengthen the movement by engaging in the establishment of the global Jewish Scientific Institute (YIVO) and maintaining cultural ties with its founders in Vilnius. This article examines a small group of Lithuanian Jewish activists dedicated to promoting Yiddish culture, focusing on their involvement in the activities of YIVO. The research focuses on archival documents and both Jewish and Lithuanian periodicals.

This article analyses correspondence across the Iron Curtain – between Western countries and occupied Lithuania – with the aim of identifying (1) the ways of sending letters to avoid harming one’s family, (2) the scale of the correspondence, and (3) the operation of the mechanism for inspecting international correspondence in the Lithuanian SSR. For several decades, letters – elliptical and brimming with Aesopian language – would be sent under pseudonyms, addressed not directly but to relatives or acquaintances living in the countryside. Correspondence with Western countries, especially after the onset of the political ‘thaw’, reached a scale that was beyond the direct control of the Soviet regime. While people exchanged millions of letters and parcels, the MGB/KGB limited its screening of correspondence to two main areas: (1) letters from individuals and institutions of interest to security, internal affairs, and military agencies were screened, and (2) targeted regional and subject-specific campaigns were organised to screen letters. In addition, the KGB maintained a registry of all foreign and domestic addressees, which was used for operational purposes when information about a person’s connections was needed.