The National Library of Belarus works permanently and purposefully to enrich the collection of the national papers which were lost during the Great Patriotic War.
Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania renders an invaluable assistance in identifying and returning of editions, which are the part of our nation’s historical and cultural heritage, to the funds of the National Library of Belarus.
So, in 2012, the Year of a Book, the NLB’s collections were supplemented with more than 100 editions, published in Vilna, Minsk and Krakow in Belarisian, Poland and Russian languages, it was achieves thanks to the fruitful cooperation between Belarusian and Lithuanian librarians in the bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of international documents exchange.
These books contain documents dated from the late 19th and early 20th century on Belarusian folklore and music; lifetime editions written by Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas, the classics of Belarusian literature; “Беларуская граматыка для школ” (Belarusian grammar for schools) (2nd edition) by B.A. Tarashkevich, printed in 1919; an original print of the research of Belarusian public figure and historian N. Ilyashevich “Расійская палітыка на землях былога Беларуска-Літоўскага гаспадарства за панавання Кацярыны ІІ і Паўла” (Russian policies on the territory of previous Belarusian-Lithuanian domination during the reign of Catherine ІІ and Pyotr) (Vilna, 1933).
For historians a special interest can arose the book “Печати короля Миндовга и вел. князя Кейстута” (The seals of King Mindaugas and grand duke Keistut), published in 1913 by the Northwest Division of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Its author is Lithuanian folklorist and anthropologist I.Y. Bassanovich.
