Hi Tom.
Thanks for the kind words, but the fact is, I've always been like that, letting people enjoy themselves. I guess it goes back to the age of about 10, when my grandpa let me play with the discarded vacuum cleaners in the various storerooms at Choate. There were Hoovers by the dozen, assorted Kirby's and Electrolux's galore! To a kid, it was vacuum cleaner heaven. In addition to the vacuum cleaners, there was china, furniture, coffee pots and all sorts of appliances. It was great to see a forest of lamps standing there with assorted shades in every color of the rainbow. And it was his wife, my granny, who instilled in me the are of entertaining. There was always a pot of coffee going, and some Scottish pastry ready for the mailman, or anybody else who might 'drop-in!' I adopted her 'party' attitude of 'make sure there's enough for everybody!'
When John and I decided to form the club, we had no 'agenda,' no pre-set rules to be a member, and expected it to be nothing more than a group of guys sharing experiences. Then I got home from Hoover, and wrote to the people on Stacy's list, inviting them to join a free club, and as a form of incentive I said we would have a newsletter. Here I was, a man who knew nothing about writing professionally, and I was going to embark on a newsletter?
Then I got a call from Craig Long, and he gave me enough personal information to fill 5 newsletters! This was in October of 82, and the only item on the agenda was light educational material, but still no basic structure. Even the name of the club was in limbo, and for the first newsletter, I went with Vacuum Cleaner Collector's Club, though John and I agonized over others. Again Craig came to my rescue, when he asked "why don't we keep the name as it is?" so it stuck!!
After the first newsletter was mailed out on January 2, 1983, John and I knew we needed a logo, letterhead and official registration forms with cover letter. Here I pressed my mom into service, making her our club secretary, and brought in my friend Norbert Miller as assistant editor (mostly to correct my atrocious spelling and grammar) and again I turned to Stacy at the Hoover Historical Center, asking if I could go there and take a photo of the British non electric hand pumper, the 'Baby Daisy' circa 1890. Then Stacy told me that her daughter Liz was studying to be a graphic artist, and would love to research patent rights to copy the machine. As it turned out, Liz decided to bypass that and draw an abstract image. By March, we had letterhead, logo and so on.
The club limped along till November of 84, I was living in Lombard, Illinois ( Chicago suburb) and working for Kirby, when Mike Pupek came to see me. "How about putting together a meeting of the members?" he asked. "I doubt if people are going to travel cross country to see some old vacuum cleaners" I said. Mikes response was direct, "put the question in the newsletter!" I did, and the result was a fantastic meeting. The only fly in the ointment was my partner Doug, who made it clear I could not have the meeting at our house! so I decided to use my mom's house in Chesterton, Indiana, which was about 50 miles away! Therefore, the first meeting of the V.C.C.C. was held on the first weekend of May, 1985.
Not being able to have the meeting at my partner's house was the last straw, Doug and I parted company a few months later when I bought a house in Naperville, and made that the official club headquarters. The smaller bedroom on the second floor was perfect for my collection, and our meeting room, (See photo) but over the years it went through a series of renovations. By 1993, however, the machines overtook the room, and as I didn't use the 3 car garage, it was remolded as a massive display room. But back to the time I bought the house. As this was where all operations took place, I decided that my machines would become the official club museum.
Cut to 1993. When You, Clay, Billy Lipman, Rodger, Dave Watters, Charles Richard, and others showed up, the meeting actually turned into a mini convention. You, Clay, and Charles were the first serious collectors, and the key people who could get us known. However, while I'd started the club, by 94, I was burning out and welcomed the gathering at Hoover. It was good to step back, let the hotel do all the work, and be guests of the Hoover company. The only drawback was the bad press (remember that?) So when you decided to take over in May of 95, I was ready to retire.
It was a fun ride, but I'm glad others are manning the helm now.
Bob Alex Taber.
[this post was last edited: 1/18/2014-13:53]
