Archives West Finding Aid

The Association of for the Advancement of Baltic studies (AABS) was officially established on December 1, 1968, following the conclusion of the first conference on Baltic studies organized by the founding members of the AABS and held at the University of Maryland. As stated in the AABS Constitution, the Association’s basic aim is “the promotion of research and education in Baltic studies.” Further, it encourages “the organization of interested scholars to increase the quality of research” through the sponsorship of “meetings and conferences for the exchange of professional views and the evaluation of research.”

The Association was founded and administered early on by a largely volunteer Board of Directors, elected officers and staff, including its Administrative Executive Director, Janis Gaigulis, who served in this capacity from 1968 through his retirement from the position in 1992. He remained an active Senior Advisor to the AABS until his death in 2005. His dedication to the administration and success of the AABS throughout his life led to the moniker “Mr. AABS”.

Another active leader of the AABS was Valters Nollendorfs, who held various positions within the AABS, including President 1976-78, Chairman of the Research Committee 1978-1984, Vice-President of Conferences 1984-1986 and Academic Executive Director 1992-1996. Many prominent Baltic studies intellectual leaders and community advocates have been involved in the AABS over the past 40+ years, including Ulo Sinberg, Gundar King, Valdis Zeps, Rein Taagepera, Tonu Parming, Vaira Vikis-Freiberga, Toivo Raun and Ivar Ivask to name just a few who are represented within the collection.

For the first two decades of the AABS, the intellectual focus was primarily on communication and exchange of ideas and research within the West, including conferences sponsored by the AABS which were held exclusively within North America. While efforts were made to promote exchange with the international community, including an association with the Baltische Historische Kommission in the late 1970s and 1980s, it wasn’t until the independence of the Baltic States in the early 1990s that a new focus of international scholarly exchange was possible.

Unique challenges in the promotion of scholarly exchange were faced by AABS during the Soviet-era occupation of the Baltic States including the ability of information and scholars to travel outside of the Baltic region. The AABS tried to further the exchange of ideas in the 1970s and 1980s through invitation of Baltic scholars to join their biannual conferences in North America while in some instances sponsoring their visas, at times with limited success.

Throughout the history of the Association it has been challenged to remain an apolitical scholarly organization, even when significant and historic events within the Baltic states could have dictated otherwise. Leaders within the AABS actively reiterated its goals and purpose to outside individuals and organizations to remain a scholarly organization while still promoting the expression of new research through the publication of its Journal of Baltic Studies and many monographs considered significant to the furthering of Baltic humanistic studies.

Internationalizing the AABS’s scholarly activities became a priority from independence of the Baltic states forward including the opening of the Baltic Academic Center in Riga, Latvia on May 15, 1992 (in a joint venture with the International Research and Exchanges Board); the Commission for Academic Reform in the Baltic States; and the application of the AABS in 1991 for membership in the American Council of Learned Societies, which was accepted on April 30, 1992.

By 1998, through a need to sustain the AABS financially and academically, the Association made the decision to re-organize its executive leadership structure including a move of the administrative office to Portland, Oregon from its long-time residence in New York. The re-organization included the move from an entirely volunteer organization to professionalizing several of the staff positions, including the provision of salaries for some key positions.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the AABS at a “crossroads” with membership falling and the long-time core of the organization both retiring from active involvement as well as passing away. The Association sought a new physical home for its executive administration and turned to the University of Washington, where the Association’s Executive Office is now based.