NPS contracted with the chief curator, Maine State Museum, and the administrator of historic sites for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Recreation, to survey collections relevant to Maine Acadians. Eighty-eight institutions and individuals were sent a survey form followed by a telephone inquiry. There was a 55% response rate. The survey instrument contained one section dealing with artifacts and one dealing with documentary collections. Results were reported in two major categories. The most substantial category focused on collections held in the Upper St. John Valley. The other analyzed Valley collections within the larger context of collections elsewhere in Maine and New Brunswick. A report and computer database (dBase) were prepared from the results (Churchill and McDonald 1993).

Two local historians assisted in completing the survey for collections held in the Upper St. John Valley. In addition, a NPS museum technician searched the collections held by Acadia National Park at the Islesford Historical Museum for any written materials related to Maine Acadian culture. (The founder of the museum had an interest in early Acadia.) Conducted during the fall of1992, the survey revealed many publications relevant to Maine Acadian history, but none that seemed to be particularly rare or exceptional.