Maria Znamierowska-Prufferowa was born in 1898 in Kybartai, Lithuania. In 1924 she became an assistant lecturer at the Faculty of Ethnography and Ethnology of the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. It was at her initiative that the Ethnographic Museum here embarked upon the quest to research and to present the culture of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She had managed to complete a number of field research projects which focused primarily on fishing (tools and methods used by fishermen, as well as their witchcraft and beliefs) and handicraft. This article identifies the theoretical and social contexts of the research, as well as the scope and availability of materials gathered by the scholar. It also discusses the value of the above materials as a source of knowledge for the contemporary ethnologist.