Sample Tier Charts

Brookfield Historical Society Sample Tier Charts (PDF)

This document shows the changes that the Brookfield Historical Society (BHS) collections committee made to their tier chart while putting it into practice. The initial draft was approved by the board to be used in practice during Activating 21st Century Local History training program project work on the textile collection. During these weekly meetings, the collections committee learned more about what makes collection objects meaningful to BHS. They also determined ways to streamline conversation by adjusting the wording of the tier chart to match their needs. 

One important adjustment made to the wording of the tier chart from the Active Collections template was to add language describing condition beyond simply Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor. These descriptions were based on the committee's knowledge of the average condition of the objects in their collection and the storage environment in their historic house museum. 

The tier chart has since been used at BHS to evaluate potential donations for accession by taking a preliminary tier assessment into consideration before accepting the donation. 

Created by Brookfield Historical Society Collections Committee, June/July 2025