Onos Maksimaitienės indėlis tiriant Panevėžio praeitį

Abstract

Among numerous works devoted to the history of Panevėžys, O. Maksimaitienė's inheritance takes up the leading part. The historian was born in St. Petersburg. She studied at St. Petersburg, Voronezh and Kaunas Gymnasiums. After graduation from the Lithuanian university she worked in Mažeikiai and Kėdainiai Gymnasiums, and in 1935-1957 she worked in different schools in Panevėžys. In 1957-1970 the historian worked at the Institute of History; after the retirement she continued her work there without any pay. She died in 1999. About one-fifth of her published inheritance is dedicated to the local research. One of her most important works is the ascertaining of the foundation date of Panevėžys. She denied the approach that had dominated for the whole century that Panevėžys already existed in the 14,h century and proved the fact that the city was first mentioned in the historical sources in 1503. The historian's major work devoted to the city is The History of Panevėžys. The 865 pages manuscript was finished in 1971, but because of the inflexible publishing system the publication of the book was delayed considerably. The author was under constant pressure because the book had to conform to the Marxism-Leninism ideology. That was the reason why the contents of the book suffered. [...]