The Catholic Diocese Historical Survey Sheets Collection consists of old photocopies of a questionnaire sent to priests across the state by Bishop John Shanley in July 1908. The four-page form asked a series of questions with space for the priest to respond. A sampling of the questions includes: "The History of your place before it had a church" "Record the visits of the earliest missionaries to your place or district" "Were there any noteworthy laymen? Give their names" "When was the first church built?" "The history of your parish" listing of priests at that location, and biographical information on the priest completing the form. The collection has been organized alphabetically by North Dakota town and name of the local parish. Most files contain only the completed form, although some are incomplete or only a letter is found in the file. Some of the correspondence dates to the 1930s. The Bismarck file is the one exception in that it contains copies of letters and also copies of a series of 1902 newspaper articles by Linda W. Slaughter from the Fargo Forum, detailing the Catholic Church in North Dakota. This file also includes "History of the Catholic Church, Bismarck, No. Dak." (17 leaves) by unknown author, written circa 1907-1908 and "A short sketch of missionary recollections of the Most Reverend Vincent Wehrle, O.S.B., Bishop of Bismarck, North Dakota" (9 leaves), by Fr. Andrew Kolbeck, O.S.B. of Saint Anthony, North Dakota.