It is the 140th anniversary of the birth of Professor Vaclovas Biržiška (1884-1956), a bibliographer, bookseller, lawyer, publicist, cultural historian and editor of the Lithuanian Encyclopaedia.
Vaclovas Biržiška (1884-1956), one of the famous Biržiška brothers, is best known for his book and bibliographical work. This line of work is abundantly illustrated by the museum’s collection of published research on old Lithuanian books, periodicals, and authors’ pseudonyms by V. Biržiška. In the preface to the publication “Features of the History of Lithuanian Books”, V. Biržiška wrote that the aim of his research was “[…] to make the wider public aware of the paths and stages of the spread of Lithuanian books and to encourage them to take a greater interest in the past of our culture, of which the history of books forms a part, to cherish our old books more, and to undertake their independent research”.
Vaclovas Biržiška’s educational activity, which began in the turbulent years of 1919 in the Lithuanian gymnasiums of Vilnius, was continued in Kaunas from the 1920s, teaching schoolchildren and students, working in adult education, in the classrooms of the Higher Officers’ Courses and the Military School, the University of Lithuania (since 1930 Vytautas the Great University), and then at the University of Vilnius (1940-1941), and at the Baltic University in Hamburg and Pineberg in the Diaspora (1946-1949), is worthy of note.
Vaclovas Biržiškas, the great brother of the book, can be called the most famous Lithuanian bookseller, bibliographer who also served as an Honorary Consultant to the US Library of Congress in Washington, DC (1951-1953).
On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Vaclovas Biržiška’s birth, we present some of his most important works and photographs from the collections of the Lithuanian Museum of Education.
Informaciją parengė Lietuvos švietimo muziejaus rinkinio kuratorė Gabija Mackevičiūtė
