Active Collections Success Story: A Unique Coat Gets Some TLC

By Hannah Kirkpatrick
January 28, 2026

Brookfield Historical Society, of Brookfield, Vermont, participated in our 2025 cohort of the Activating 21st Century Local History Training Program. While assessing and tiering the textiles in their collection over the summer, our work group identified some fur coats that weren’t in ideal condition and didn’t have clear records associated with them. However, with more research, it seemed likely that one of these coats was part of a special Brookfield story: their first rural mail carrier, Clayton Fisk, was said to deliver mail in all conditions, protected by his trusty bearskin coat.

Active Collections encourages us to prioritize the objects in our collection that best support our mission; for local historical societies, that means the objects that tell clear stories about what life was like in their town in the past. The fur coats were all in a condition that required better storage, but this one could help tell a local story, making it worthy of extra time and resources.

The collections working group at Brookfield was able to use funds available to participants in the Activating 21st Century Local History Training Program to purchase an archival-quality Tyvek garment bag with a padded hanger that would protect the coat from pests and dust, allowing it to be stored in a cooler part of the building. The coat was also sent to an industrial freezer with the Vermont State Archives & Records Administration to go through numerous freeze-thaw cycles and eliminate any remaining pests hiding up its sleeves.

Now, the coat is back with Brookfield Historical Society and is very happy in its new storage space! This is a great example of how focusing the Active Collections mindset on a specific part of your collection can help your organization make strides towards a healthier collection that tells one-of-a-kind stories.

Originally shared in the Vermont Historical Society's biweekly LHS eNews.