Junta Permanente of SEV; from 1923 until death he again was member of the SEV executive; he represented the Traditionalist outlook. Periodically Lezama headed Sección de Historia and Sección de Literatura of the Society; in the early 1920s he was delegated to Junta de Cultura de la Diputación de Vizcaya. In 1927-1928 he entered the SEV committee which was to prepare the most ambitious undertaking so far, an exposition on the 19th-century civil wars in Vascongadas. As the project was flavored with Carlist undertones, eventually the interior ministry effectively prohibited the exposition. Lezama's scientific contribution to vascólogia is minor. His key work is Informe acerca de la obra manuscrita conocida con el nombre de "Crónica de Ibargüen" (1921), a 47-page commentary on a 16th-century chronicle, just purchased by the Biscay diputación; it covered bibliographic, geographical, heraldic, archeological and linguistic issues. Other attempts are largely bibliographical and partially biographical pieces published in Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos in the 1920s; one of them, El Vascófilo Franciscano R. P. Fr. Juan Mateo de Zabala, was dedicated to an early vascólogist and brother of his maternal grandmother. Despite rather modest output, at least compared to scientific writings of other SEV leaders like Julio Urquijo, Luis Eleizalde or Resurección Azkue, in friendly press Lezama was hailed as “vascofilo ilustrísimo”. Potentially most significant, but ultimately futile and tragic Lezama's efforts to protect the Basque heritage were related to his bibliophile passion. He inherited a collection of manuscripts and old prints from his maternal relative, Zabala; another portion of historical texts was taken over from the family of his wife, the Zuazolas. Lezama multiplied the treasure; for decades he kept searching private, parochial and conventual archives and spent personal fortune on purchases. In the early 1920s his library was considered “mas copiosa y mas importante de las bibliotecas vascongadas”, and himself he was dubbed “doctísimo bibliofilo”. The collection, estimated to be one of the largest in Spain, occupied entire wing of Lezama's palace in Getxo; apart from Basque-related treasures it included also non-Basque documents related to Spanish history. In total, the collection amounted to 45,000 volumes; the owner admitted access to scholars and shared some documents with various institutions. Almost entire library was lost during the fire of December 1937, caused by malfunction of the heating system. Man of culture Apart from his vascólogist endeavors, Lezama was engaged in numerous other cultural initiatives, most strongly