latviski
Cultural preservation can come down to the actions of a single individual. One man, Krišjānis Barons↗, took the initiative to collect all Latvian folksongs — heretofore passed on orally from generation to generation, soliciting song texts to then be organized. By 1880 he had a special cabinet, daiņu skapis↗, created for storage. The collection soon grew to over 100,000, ultimately holding 217,996 texts. Indeed, song is central to the Latvian soul. The first Latvian song festival↗↗lv was held in Dikļi↗↗lv, in 1864, and the first national festival↗↗lv one hundred and fifty-two years ago in 1873.
Once settled in new communities, wherever there was a critical mass of Latvians, they built communities usually around church, organized schooling in all things Latvian, founded boy and girl scout troops, celebrated the holidays — both religious and pagan, and organized exhibitions and arts events. The generation old enough to remember the DP camps is dwindling — a child who entered the DP camps at the age of 6 would now be 87 years old today. What should we learn from them? The Latvians Abroad Museum↗ answers that with Latvian "footprints," pēdas, across the world. What have they left for us?
Browse everything at Entire library by era
Our Latvians in exile materials
Materials listed by year.
= album/postcards
= includes full facsimile
= cultural item
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