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Identifier/Call Number
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AFC 1991/029
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Description
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en
Collection consists of sound and video recordings, photographs, manuscript materials, printed materials, correspondence, field notes, and administrative files documenting folklife--including architecture, music, dance, storytelling, material culture, and occupational culture--in the Upper Saint John River Valley on the Maine and New Brunswick border.
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Copyright Statement and Conditions governing use
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Duplication of the collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
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Biography, Administrative History and Provenance
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en
The Maine Acadian Cultural Survey Collection was the result of Maine Acadian Cultural Survey Project, 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. The Maine Acadian Cultural Survey Project was conducted in 1991 as a joint project of the American Folklife Center and the North Atlantic Regional Office of the National Park Service. In 1990 the U.S. Congress passed the Maine Acadian Culture Preservation Act (P.L.101-543), mandating that a study of Acadian culture in Maine be conducted for the purpose of providing data to be used in planning an Acadian Cultural Center in Maine. As a result of this act, the Park Service invited the Center to join them in undertaking such a study. The Maine Acadian Cultural Survey Project is the fifth major collaborative project between the Park Service and the Center, and the design and execution of the project were largely based on knowledge gained through earlier projects.
Under the terms of the cooperative agreement between the Park Service and the Center, the Center developed and administered a study of Acadian culture in Maine, produced a draft report with findings of the study and recommendations for future research and cultural programming, and provided the Park Service with a reference copy of the field data.
Eight weeks of field research by five researchers, interviewing residents and documenting aspects of traditional culture in context, in the St. John Valley yielded an ethnographic collection consisting of 5,081 photographic images, 3,600 pages of print materials, fieldnotes, manuscripts and catalogs, 42 computer discs, 40 hours of audio recordings, 50 pages of sketches, and an assortment of ephemeral material. These data 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. Following a review by National Park Service officials, the report was published by the Park Service and submitted to Congress, and is expected to be used as a planning document by the Maine Acadian Culture Preservation Commission.
The ethnographic collection of the project has been added to the Archive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress. A reference copy of the collection was donated to the Archive acadiennes at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where it is readily available to the residents of the study area.
The project also proved to be a successful vehicle for creating or strengthening ties between the Center and cultural agencies and individual researchers in Maine. Project personnel worked closely with the Archives acadiennes, the Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, and the University of Maine at Fort Kent. In addition, researchers had considerable contact with a large number of local historical societies and other cultural organizations based in the study area.
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Extent
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8,016 items; 8 containers, 2,800 manuscript materials; 32 sound cassettes, analog; 7 sound tape reels,analog, 7 1/2 ips , 7 in.; ca. 5,080 photographs, color, black and white; ca. 50 drawings; 5 videocassettes of 5 (VHS); 42 disks.
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Arrangement
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Organized by format into the following series: 1. Manuscript materials; 2. Sound recordings; 3. Graphic materials; 4. Moving images.
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Notes
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Digital content from this collection is available here: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afconline.afc1991029. The collection was processed by the American Folklife Center staff between 1991 and 1996. Nora Yeh revised and coded the collection finding aid in EAD format in May 2012.
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Recommended Citation
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Maine Acadian Cultural Survey Collection (AFC 1991/029), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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