Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies records, 1967-2022

Scope and Content: The Administrative Series contains the records documenting the activities involved in the administration of the Association. Included are the correspondence, notes, papers, reports and other textual & photographic material recording the establishment and ongoing administrative activities of the AABS. Each sub-series of the Administrative Series contains material which is arranged in a general chronologic order.

Scope and Content: The Conference Series is arranged chronologically by date and conference number. The series includes papers, reports and abstracts proposed and presented, marketing material & programs, logistics & local arrangement documentation, surveys/questionnaires of conference participants, attendee and presenter lists, registration forms, financial statements for conference expenses, notes & minutes of membership meetings which were held in conjunction with conferences, grant applications for funding conferences, travel grant awards to attendees, news clipping, payment logs, general correspondence and audio cassette tapes of conference sessions in 1974. The volume of material from each conference varies greatly, with the bulk of records from the first few conferences in which Janis Gaigulis was more actively involved in their planning and execution.

Conferences by location and date are as follows:

1st Conference – University of Maryland, Nov 28 - Dec 1, 1968

2nd Conference – San Jose State College, Nov 26-29, 1970

3rd Conference – University of Toronto, May 11-14, 1972

4th Conference – University of Illinois at Chicago, May 15-18, 1974

5th Conference – Columbia University, New York, May 20-23, 1976

6th Conference – University of Toronto, Canada, May 11-14, 1978

7th Conference – Georgetown University, Washington D.C., June 5-8, 1980

8th Conference – University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 17-19, 1982

9th Conference – University of Montreal, Canada, June 14-16, 1984

10th Conference – University of Wisconsin at Madison, May 29-31, 1986

11th Conference – University of Maryland, June 8-11, 1988

12th Conference – University of Washington, Seattle, June 21-23, 1990

13th Conference – University of Toronto, Canada, June 10-13, 1992

14th Conference – University of Illinois at Chicago, June 8-11, 1994

15th Conference – Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts, June 27-29, 1996

16th Conference – Indiana University, June 19-21, 1998

17th Conference – University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, June 2000

18th Conference – John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, June 6-8, 2002

19th Conference – University of Toronto, Canada, June 3-5, 2004

20th Conference – George Washington University, Washington D.C., 2006

Scope and Content: The Fund Raising Series includes general administration of the fund raising efforts of the AABS which includes correspondence, notes, financial material, grant application and proposal materials submitted by the AABS to various organizations. In the beginning of the Association’s history, fund raising was geared mainly toward the organization and administration of the AABS biannual conferences and the production of its main publication, the Journal of Baltic Studies. As the Association matured, the fund raising efforts expanded to support project-based activities like the Commission for Academic Reform in the Baltic States and the Baltic Academic Center (administered jointly with International Research & Exchanges Board -IREX) in Latvia. Fund raising efforts have included various applications and receipt of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, including the “Challenge Grant” and The Andrew M. Mellon Foundation grant. Monies acquired from these grants, in addition to donations from individuals, have supported the Association’s Baltic Studies Fund (BSF) among other projects. The BSF allocates money to aid in publications, research and related academic activities (see also series Grants, Scholarships, Prizes).

Scope and Content: The Grants, Scholarships and Prizes series contains general administration correspondence, notes, financial material and grant applications for the awards granted by the AABS to selected applicants.

Scope and Content: The Scholarly Exchange series documents the Association’s activities in the pursuit of the exchange of scholarly information with regards to the advancement of Baltic Studies within the United States and internationally. Exchanges are between AABS members, especially Janis Gaigulis, Valters Nollendorfs and other AABS executives, with scholars, researchers, elected officials and intellectuals from a multitude of academic and professional associations and institutions.

The sub-series of Governor's Commission on Eastern European & Captive Nation History was the New Jersey commission on which Janis Gaigulis served to "conduct a thorough study of public school curriculum, including textbooks and the pertinent materials dealing with the history of the peoples of Eastern Europe...determine whether the history of these people is fairly and accurately presented in our public schools and their curricula....and make recommendations it deems appropriate." Included are correspondence, notes, memos, scholar lists and reports.

The majority of the Scholarly Exchange series contained in the General Exchanges sub-series is unsorted, but arranged in a general chronologic order. Contained in the series are the following topics and items of note: records pertaining to Baltic Studies student exchange programs & study abroad including BALSSI [Baltic Studies Summer Institution], national & international conferences attended by or co-sponsored by the AABS and its members, formalized contracts/agreements of information exchange between the AABS and academic institutions and other associations, academic reform programs, travel notes and correspondence by AABS members in the pursuit of scholarly exchange in the Baltic States, the Baltic Academic Center [Riga, Latvia] & IREX [International Research & Exchanges Board], the Baltische Historische Kommission, library reform & expansion in the Baltic states, exchange of published material & booklists, foreign language news clippings and records documenting Janis Gaigulis’s involvement in the New Jersey Governor’s Commission on Eastern European and Captive Nation History. Includes as well individual correspondence by scholars, students, elected officials, and Baltic community members.

The sub-series of Subject Files (approximately 2.5 c.f. of material) retains the original file titles and content designated by Janis Gaigulis with regards to information on scholarly exchanges. Approximately one additional cubic foot of material was most likely created by Valters Nollendorfs and retains its original file titles and contents. All files in this sub-series are organized by subject.

Scope and Content: The Publication Series contains correspondence, notes, financial documents, and general administrative material including requests for copies, production costs/invoices/administration, receipt of publication notices, published material subscription information & requests, editorial board correspondence and publication lists (sponsored/co-sponsored by AABS).

The main publication of the AABS is the Journal of Baltic Studies, first published as the Bulletin of Baltic Studies in 1970, which ran under this title for eight issues through 1971. The new title was adopted in 1972 and continues to the present as the Journal of Baltic Studies. The Baltic Studies Newsletter was first issued in 1976. Other publications by the AABS include Summary Proceedings of various early conferences (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th conferences – See Conference Series for publication drafts, correspondence, general administration documentation of publishing) as well as individual author volumes on a variety of Baltic studies topics.

Material in the Publication sub-series are divided by dominant publication type. General publication and documentation spanning all publications are contained in the general administration sub-series.