Welcome aboard Savannah and son! Sounds like he has quite a collection already! Many of us collectors had an interest in vacuum cleaners from an early age. My parents gave me a toy Hoover for Christmas when I was 2 1/2, and by the time I was 4 I knew what brands of vacuums my Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles, and family friends had, and where they kept them. However, I didn't actually start collecting them until about 20 years ago. Started with about 8 or 10 that I had accumulated and grew into the 120 that I have today--almost all vintage machines and many of them are makes and models that I remember from my childhood. A few of them actually DID belong to family members, including my Grandmother's Hoover Constellation, my Aunt's Westinghouse cannister, and my Mom's Electro-Hygiene tank, which I bought for her when I was selling Electro-Hygienes in 1974.
Jeff