Photographs taken by the brother photographers Miron and Leon Butkowicz at the Children Exhibition, held in Vilnius on 8–31 August 1908; preserved in the holdings of the Vilnius Society of the Friends of Science (Towarzystwo przyjaciół nauk w Wilnie). This exhibition was devised and sponsored by Józef Montwiłł. Montwiłł founded many charitable institutions on the premises of the former Franciscan Friary on Trakų St – the Children’s Care Society, St Zita’s Female Servants’ Society, the Society for the Protection of the Poor with its free canteen, hospital and night shelter, the Drop of Milk Infants’ Care Society. He repaired these premises and fitted them out anew. An exhibition was held here in 1908 presenting all that was needed in young people’s lives: toys, cradles, books, clothing, furniture, along with work done by inmates of the Saviour’s Heart House – carpentry, metalwork, basket-weaving, textiles, embroidery and so forth.
This was the first exhibition of its kind not only in Lithuania but also in Poland and Russia. Many celebrities from Warsaw and St Petersburg attended it.
