Vincas Valkavičius

Garbės daktaras / Honorary Doctor (Suteiktas vardas 2003-06-25)

In 2003, VMU Senate awarded the priest, historian, and musician Vincas Valkavičius (1929-2005) the title of VMU Honorary Doctor in recognition of his contributions to the study of emigration history. The academician’s major contribution to the history of Lithuanian emigration is the three-volume encyclopaedic work Lithuanian Religious Life in America (1991, 1996, 1998), which presents the history of Lithuanian Catholic parishes in the USA. He donated the extensive archive he had collected to the Lithuanian Emigration Institute.

Vincas Valkavičius (William Wolkovich) was born on 29 June 1929 in Hudson, USA. He was ordained a priest in 1953 after graduating from Saint John’s Seminary. In 1980, he received his master’s degree in American Studies from Boston College. He also served as a vicar in American and Lithuanian parishes. From 1962, he served as pastor of St. George Catholic Parish in Norwood. He participated in the activities of Lithuanian-American historians and other historical societies. His area of historical research focused on the ethnic characteristics of emigration. He published articles on Poles, Irish, and Albanians in American academic journals and wrote and translated articles for Encyclopedia Lituanica (vol. 2 1972; vol. 3 1973; and vol. 6 1978). He also contributed articles on Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and Albanians to the Dictionary of American Immigration History (1990) and on Lithuanians to the Encyclopedia of American Catholic History. Making It in America. He presented papers at the 4th and 6th World Lithuanian Symposium on Arts and Sciences (1981, 1989), as well as at Polish historians’ meetings in Washington (1982) and Boston (2000). He published several books on Lithuanian parishes, priests, and Lithuanian relations with Poles and Americans. He contributed to journals such as Lituanus, Historical Journal of Massachusetts, and Polish American Studies. In a three-volume encyclopaedic work on the history of Lithuanian Catholic parishes in the USA, Lithuanian Religious Life in America, he described the activities of more than 100 Lithuanian parishes from their establishment in the late 19th century to the end of the 20th century, discussed the cultural activities of Lithuanian organisations, efforts to create national parishes and preserve Lithuanian identity, and provided short biographies of priests and monks. In a separate book titled Lithuanian Fraternalism: 75 Years of US Knights of Lithuania, he published the 75-year history (since 1913) of the Knights of Lithuania organisation (1988, summary in Lithuanian).

As a violinist and singer (baritone), he participated in chamber concerts in Lithuanian communities (during the 1956 season, he played the violin in the Brockton orchestra and, in 1957, in the Needham Philharmonic). From 1961, he took part in chamber concerts in Cambridge (USA) alongside I. and V. Vasyliūnas. During his visit to Lithuania in 1999, Vincas Valkavičius taught the history of the Lithuanian diaspora in North America at the VMU Department of History.

He was awarded the 5th Class Order of Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas (1997) and the Amicus Poloniae Award by the Polish American Historical Association (2000).

Vincas Valkavičius passed away on 12 January 2005 in Hudson, USA.

Based on information provided by VMU Library.