The Maine Acadian Cultural Survey was an eight-week study conducted in 1991 as a joint project of the American Folklife Center and the North Atlantic Regional Office of the National Park Service to research information to be used in planning an Acadian Cultural Center in Maine. Project personnel worked closely with the Archives Acadiennes, Maine Arts Commission, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, and the University of Maine at Fort Kent. In addition, fieldworkers had considerable contact with a large number of local historical societies and other cultural organizations based in the study area.

The collection consists of more than 5000 photographs, 3600 pages of print materials, fieldnotes, manuscripts and catalogs, 40 hours of audio recordings, 50 pages of sketches, and an assortment of ephemeral material. These materials were used to compile a 199-page report, titled The Maine Acadian Cultural Survey, that was submitted to the National Park Service. The report contains the findings of the survey of Acadian culture in Maine as well as recommendations for the development of a Maine Acadian Cultural Center. The fieldwork includes documentation of vernacular architecture, music, dance, storytelling, material culture, and occupational culture in the Upper Saint John River Valley on the Maine and New Brunswick Canadian border. C. Ray Brassieur was the survey field coordinator and David A. Taylor was the survey project director. Other fieldworkers on the project included Howard W. Marshall, Lisa Ornstein, and David A. Whitman.

This online presentation includes the majority of the sound recordings and photographs in this collection. Selected manuscripts include those materials created by the fieldworkers, such as audio and photo logs, field notes, and final reports. The remainder of the collection is available in the Folklife Reading Room at the Library of Congress. A finding aid to the entire collection is also available online.