President Valdas Adamkaus Library-Museum: American tradition in Lithuania

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The library-museum of President Valdas Adamkaus operating in Kaunas is the only such institution in Lithuania, the idea of ​​which came from the United States of America. In the USA, every president of this country has such libraries-museums. In Europe, in addition to Kaunas, there is also a library-museum of Vaclav Havel, the president of the Czech Republic, founded in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. In Kaunas, this institution was opened on April 29, 2016, although the idea of ​​its establishment was born much earlier.

Used some of his family’s land

Historian Arūnas Antanaitis, the director of the library-museum of President V. Adamkaus, who has been in charge of this institution since its opening, recently visited Marijampole. He has accumulated a lot of knowledge about the tradition of presidential libraries that came from across the Atlantic.

– The tradition of presidential libraries was born in America. The first such library-museum was established by President Franklin Roosevelt, who was president in 1933-1945. He was a historian by education, so at the end of his term he began to worry about where he would put his accumulated personal archive. Before that, the archives of former American presidents were scattered, incomplete, and it was F. Roosevelt who decided to put everything in one place.

For this purpose, he used part of his family’s land, where he built a house and moved everything there. So this is the place where the president’s belongings are located, it became publicly accessible, and a museum appeared there. Since the time of F. Roosevelt, all presidents in the USA have had such institutions. When a president leaves the White House, he takes all of his belongings out of the White House, leaves the White House empty, and then establishes a presidential library. In Europe, only our and V. Havel’s library-museum in Prague are related to this American tradition, although there are various centers and institutes related to presidents in various European countries, – said A. Antanaitis.

Vasari was supported by the Kazicki Foundation

Undoubtedly, the decision to establish such an institution in Kaunas was determined by the fact that President V. Adamkus lived and worked in the United States for many years, was well acquainted with their activities, visited many of them and was convinced that this is a successful project that attracts the attention of the public. A. Antanaitis remembers that the very idea of ​​establishing a library-museum in Kaunas was first mentioned when professor Egidijus Aleksandravičius and businessman Juozas Kazickas sat together at the president’s house and then E. Aleksandravičius asked: don’t you think it should be established here as well?

– V. Adamkus himself was more modest then, he still had doubts, but it was J. Kazickas who immediately said – we are doing it, we are establishing it, it’s a great idea. It is also very important that this word of the bright memory of Mr. Kazickas was accompanied by action, because then the Kazickas Foundation made a very generous donation to the newly established institution and it continued to operate using the funds of this fund for a long time, the director said.

In 2011, President V. Adamkaus, Vytautas Didios University (VDU) and the Kaunas City Municipality signed an agreement on the establishment of the V. Adamkaus Library-Museum, and according to it, the municipality handed over a historical building on S. Daukanta Street to the newly created institution. During the interwar period, when Kaunas was the Temporary Capital, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs operated there.

This building was very neglected at the time, initially working in very shabby premises and looking for money to restore the building, then renovations were carried out and it was officially opened eight years ago.

Marijampole can be proud of its president

When asked what this museum is like today, what activities it carries out, the director said that there is a very close cooperation with the Institute of Lithuanian Emigrants of VDU, which is a scientific institution, and the library-museum and its employees try to tell the story in popular language and convey the peculiarities of the presidential activities. There is a lot of work with other museums in the country, exhibitions, book presentations, meetings with representatives of the diaspora are held regularly, and visitors are received, and there is certainly no shortage of them, especially in the cold season.

During the conversation, A. Antanaitis emphasized that Marijampolė can be proud to have a museum of another Lithuanian president – Kazios Griniaus, and the connection between these two institutions is precisely through K. Griniaus.
– If we were to ask V. Adamkaus, and it has been asked more than once, who had the greatest influence on him when he decided to run for office and become the president of Lithuania, the answer is clear – it was K. Grinius who motivated him the most. There was a close relationship between the families of Adamkės and Grinės, even before the Second World War, the future president studied in Kaunas with K. Grinius’ son Liutas, they were very close friends who, together with Gabrielius Žemkalnis, published the underground anti-Nazi newspaper “Jaunime, budųj”.

When V. Adamkus left Lithuania and came to America, he first stayed at the home of the Grinės who already lived there. He was also with K. Griniaus on the eve of his death in 1950, a widely known photograph of that visit has survived, – said A. Antanaitis.

Indeed, the authority of K. Grinius was very important to V. Adamkas. In the recently released documentary film “President”, V. Adamkus tells how K. Grinius warned him and his son Liūtas that it was very dangerous to publish “Jaunime, beware”. “I was like a second son in the Grinais family”, – this is the phrase from V. Adamkaus’ lips in this film.

The president wanted a more traditional museum

A. Antanaitis said that when giving visitors a tour and talking about V. Adamkės, he always emphasizes that there is not a single presidential library in the US capital, Washington, because the capital there serves the current president. “So in Lithuania, both Kaunas and Marijampolė have places related to the presidents of the country, who were connected by a special connection. You have a unique opportunity to say that it was K. Grinius who was a very democratic and intelligent president, and the people of Kaunas will find many good words to describe V. Adamkės. And not only the people of Kaunas – V. Adamkus has been the most valued personality in the country for many years,” said A. Antanaitis.

To what extent is President V. Adamkus himself now interested in the activities of this institution, how much is he trying to influence it? The director says that despite his very respectable age (V. Adamkus is in his 98th year), the president comes here at least once every three months, and sometimes more often, visits, is interested in how work is done, what plans are available for the future.

– The President’s words are a testament to us, we always listen to what he says, what he wants and desires.

Maybe that’s why we are a more traditional museum, less interactive, but I remember how Mrs. Alma Adamkienė once said that all these museum innovations are “not us”. So we are a traditional museum, but we try to be as interesting and attractive as possible, so that visitors can discover new meanings here and new things that give those meanings, – said A. Antanaitis.

And there is certainly no shortage of visitors in the V. Adamkaus library-museum. According to the manager, those who came know a lot about Adamkis, they themselves share their impressions of meetings with him, and remember various moments. People are very interested and impressive presidential awards, personal items, photographs are stored here. In the museum exposition, you can hear unique things about the life of the president, because his biography is very rich and unique. Visitors are also told about the successful integration of Lithuania into the EU and NATO, always emphasizing that it is V. Adamkus who is the best example when it comes to Lithuania’s desire to be part of the family of Western countries.

Environmental careers are also presented

– Another thing that visitors can hear in a new way is the story about V. Adamkaus’ career as an environmentalist in the USA. We ourselves, when establishing this library, really knew very little about the president’s work in this area, we had only read a little of his memoirs. Here we have an exhibition about it. While preparing it, we communicated with colleagues of the Environmental Protection Agency in the USA, who provided unique stories about V. Adamkės. For American environmentalists, V. Adamkus is a true hero for cleaning up the Great Lakes.

Therefore, I would definitely invite young people, schoolchildren, students, for whom environmental issues are very relevant, to visit and take a deeper look. I think that if it weren’t for the issues of the current war in Ukraine, environmental protection would be the most pressing issue. In the museum, you can see and learn what V. Adamkus did in the USA before becoming the president of Lithuania, the interviewer said.

When welcoming visitors, museum staff ask where they came from and what topics they are more interested in. If people are interested in foreign policy, they talk about it more, and if, say, a group of teenagers comes, they talk more about the future president as an athlete, because when he was young he played a lot of sports and achieved really good results. In short, the biography of V. Adamkaus should be interesting to many different people.

During the conversation, we also touched on the topic of the president’s age and health. V. Adamkus successfully overcame his health problems, and the venerable age of the president, according to A. Antanaitis, is a sensitive topic that is discussed more in a closed circle.

– During all those years, we became very close with the president. When we lose him, it is clear that the life of the museum-library will also change. Now the president’s house in Turniškės has many special exhibits, there are paintings and books that he likes the most. According to the will of V. Adamkaus, after his death, all this will go to our library-museum, this has already been discussed. Of course, it will require a lot of space, but we have serious founders – VDU and Kaunas City Municipality, who highly appreciate and understand very well the importance of the presence of the V. Adamkaus Memorial in Kaunas. The president was born, grew up and developed as a personality in Kaunas, and I think the people of Marijampole, who have president K. Grinių, understand and appreciate that very well, said A. Antanaitis.