The BATUN documents arrive at the National Archives of Latvia
The BATUN Archive is a collection of unique documents accumulated and compiled in New York over a period of 50 years. The BATUN documents (texts, photographs, demonstration placards, Baltic flags, computer discs) were produced by amateurs. The documents – since 2008 called the Archive – were mostly stored in folders and filing cabinets in the BATUN office. By 2008, there were about two dozen file drawers filled with documents.
The Archive had no comprehensive filing system that would facilitate access to all the documents. From 1966 to 1991, only a small part of the Archive, such as, the minutes of the board meetings, the documents related to the annual meetings, the BATUN news releases and Baltic Chronologies, as well as the reports of the visits made to the permanent missions of the UN in New York were used by the office, and some BATUN activists. These documents were in good order, and therefore, most easily accessible. However, at the other extreme were the documents stored on obsolete computer disks or stuffed in drawers.
The content of the Archive has changed over time. For example, some BATUN documents may have been destroyed in 1988, when the BATUN office moved into the Daugavas Vanagi Association premises. In 2008, the Archive was prepared for research by culling out the publications received from other organizations and the multiple copies of documents. During the 2010s, a group of former BATUN activists in New York (eventually called the ‘BATUN historians’) began making preparations for writing the historiography of BATUN. The group’s initial members included Heino Ainso, Uldis Blukis, Ann Charles, Margers Pinnis, Janis Riekstins, Ints Rupners, and Nancy Umbrazas. Their sources included the BATUN Archive as well as, to a lesser degree, their own memories.
In 2019, the BATUN Archive was transferred to the National Archives of Latvia in Riga. The aim was to introduce the historical contribution made by BATUN in its efforts to introduce the situation in the occupied Baltic States as it relates to international law to the UN and its member states in New York and Geneva. The memorandum on the transfer of archival documents was signed by the ambassadors of all three Baltic States to the United Nations and the representatives of BATUN. Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovičs, the Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations in New York, arranged for the transport of the BATUN Archive from New York to the National Archives of Latvia in Riga. The BATUN Archive is stored at the National Archives of Latvia, at the State Archive of Latvia (Bezdelīgu Street 1a, Riga) under the designation LNA LVA F.2944 (Baltiešu aicinājums Apvienotām Nācijām (BATUN) /ASV/).
Exhibition sources
NAL State Archives of Latvia
LNA LVA F.2944 – Baltiešu aicinājums Apvienotām Nācijām (BATUN) /ASV/
LNA LVA F.2579 – Vallena Dagmāra (1928 – 2013), žurnāliste, sabiedriskā darbiniece (ASV)
NAL State Film, Sound and Image Archives of Latvia
LNA LVA F.2579, A.3v – Vallena Dagmāra (1928 – 2013), žurnāliste, sabiedriskā darbiniece (ASV)
Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
Videos – OMF 2300/2031-2033 (Uldis Bluķis), OMF 2300/3277-3279 (Ints Rupners), OMF 2300/3434e (Dzintra Bungs)
Photos – 51 OMF 20990_7, 57 OMF 20990_13, 59 OMF 20990_15, 66 OMF 20990_22, 79 OMF 20990_35, 82 OMF 20990_38, 89 OMF 8340_49, 98 OMF 8340_58_1
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
“A Historiography of BATUN 1961-91”, Uldis Bluķis, Heino Ainso, Ints Rupners
Exhibition team
Agnija Lesničenoka, NAL State Archives of Latvia – project coordinator, texts, document selection, design
Everita Tamme, NAL State Archives of Latvia – document selection
Juta Ristsoo – text editing (English)
Inta Rozenvalde – text editing (Latvian)
Ilze Antēna – text editing (Latvian)
Guntis Švītiņš, NAL State Archives of Latvia – image processing
Ainars Mazvērsītis, NAL State Archives of Latvia – WEB development