For many family historians, the Lithuanian archives in Vilnius are the point of the whole trip. They hold the church books, the revision lists and the civil records that a village visit can only point toward. They are also working government offices with set hours, procedures and notices that change, so a visit goes better when you know what to confirm in advance. This guide covers the two archives most family researchers need, the Lithuanian State Historical Archives and the Lithuanian Central State Archives, with the hours and procedures we could verify, a preparation checklist, and the points we could not confirm.
Which archive for which question
| Archive | Address | What it holds, in brief |
|---|---|---|
| Lithuanian State Historical Archives (LVIA) | Mindaugo g. 8, LT-03107 Vilnius | Church vital-record books up to 1940 and civil registration records, according to the Office of the Chief Archivist, plus documents on noble families, as our church books guide describes |
| Lithuanian Central State Archives (LCVA) | O. Milašiaus g. 21, LT-10102 Vilnius | According to consular pages, documents confirming citizenship before 15 June 1940. Our requests guide lists its other holdings |
A person searching for information about their or their relatives’ births, marriages or deaths should apply to the State Historical Archives, according to the Office of the Chief Archivist. Our guide to requesting records explains which archive holds which period.
The State Historical Archives: what the official pages say
The archive’s English site publishes a procedure for servicing individuals. It states that service by telephone and email runs on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., and that hours are shorter by one hour on the eve of holidays. Individual queries can also be handled in person in Room 110, on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. The procedure gives telephone numbers that, it says, also apply when querying in English, and an email address for individual queries.
The reading room has its own schedule. A notice on the archive’s home page says that a pilot extension of reading-room hours was ending and that from 1 October the room would return to its regular Tuesday hours of 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with the other days unchanged. We could not tell from the page which year the notice refers to, so confirm the current hours with the archive before you travel. An older page of the Office of the Chief Archivist gave different reading-room hours for some days, which is another reason to ask.
| Service | Hours published on the archive’s procedure page | Caution |
|---|---|---|
| Telephone and email | Mon, Wed, Thu 8:00 to 17:00; Tue 8:00 to 18:30; Fri 8:00 to 15:45 | Shorter by one hour on the eve of holidays |
| In-person queries, Room 110 | Mon, Wed, Thu 8:00 to 17:00; Tue 9:30 to 18:30; Fri 8:00 to 15:45 | Confirm before travel |
| Reading room | Tuesday 9:30 to 18:30 after the pilot extension ended; other days unchanged, per a home-page notice | Notice undated, and an older page lists other hours |
The Office of the Chief Archivist adds that each archive has a reading room where researchers who observe its regulations can look at documents directly, that reading rooms provide inventories, indexes, descriptions and catalogs, and that archives provide paid services for searching for documents. We did not find a published fee schedule, so ask before you commission a search.
The Central State Archives: a notice to check
The Lithuanian Central State Archives’ English page lists working hours of Monday to Thursday from 8:00 to 17:00 and Friday from 8:00 to 15:45, and carries a notice that thematic research requests and requests concerning family history are temporarily not being processed. We could not find a date on the notice or confirm whether it still applies. Because consular pages direct some citizenship applicants to this archive for proof of citizenship before 15 June 1940, as our documents guide explains, check the archive’s current position before you plan around it.
Do you need an appointment?
A private research firm’s description says that research access to the State Historical Archives is by appointment in the reading room. We did not find an official statement that says so, and the archive’s own procedure page speaks of in-person queries in Room 110 without mentioning an appointment. The safe course is to write or call first and ask whether the reading room needs a booking, and what identification you need.
Prepare before you go
- Write to the archive in advance with the surname variants, villages, parish and years you want to search, in Lithuanian where you can, as our requests guide suggests.
- Search the online indexes first, using our guide to ePaveldas and FamilySearch, so that you spend archive time on what is not online.
- Know the volume and year you want, and the parish and diocese, using our place-names guide.
- Bring your translation notes for Latin, Polish and Russian, and the variants table from our given-names guide.
- Ask in advance about copies, photographs and fees, since we could not verify the rules.
A worked example, invented for illustration
Example (invented, for illustration only): A reader plans three days in Vilnius. In the weeks before travel she emails the State Historical Archives with her great-grandfather’s name, the village and the years she wants, and asks whether the reading room needs a booking. She learns the volumes she wants are listed in the catalog and arranges to visit during Tuesday’s longer hours. In the reading room she reads the entries, copies each in the original language and notes the sponsors, which she later uses on a village visit. She also writes to the Central State Archives to ask about its family-history notice before relying on it for a citizenship paper.
What we could not verify
- Whether the reading room requires an appointment.
- The current reading-room hours, since the notice we found is undated.
- The status of the Central State Archives’ family-history notice.
- Rules on photography and copying, and fees for paid searches.
- Whether regional archives, such as those in Kaunas and Klaipėda, offer the same access.
Sources include the State Historical Archives’ procedure for servicing individuals, its home page, the Office of the Chief Archivist’s page on access and service, an older page on the Historical Archives, the Central State Archives and a private research firm’s description. The last is a commercial site, which we use only for the appointment point we label as unverified.
More guides are in Visiting Lithuania, and the whole plan is in our trip planning guide.
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