New Historian joins the FOHBC Board – Brian Bingham

You might recognize Brian Bingham as he was on the cover of the November–December 2022 issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. His display won the “Most Educational” ribbon at the Reno 2022 National Antique Bottle Convention.

Brian Bingham, FOHBC Historian, was born in Washington, DC, and raised in suburban Maryland. Brian is retired from what was, at the time, the new field of Electronic Engineering. He immediately went to work for Sperry Univac, installing and maintaining large and small computer systems at major government agencies across Washington DC, including several years as part of the NASA Shuttle program. He moved to Southern California in the early 1980s following the shuttle incident. After moving to California, he transitioned into a career as a supply chain analyst before returning to electronic engineering with United Technologies. Brian is an active member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Eagle Chapter, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, William Pittenger chapter, and the Friends of Heritage Park (a historic village in Oceanside, CA, with original Civil War and Victorian buildings including a jail, saloon, mercantile, school, newspaper and doctor’s office, and two homes all restored and maintained by the Friends). Brian enjoys living history and can reenact virtually any period in costume and manner through Medieval, Revolutionary, Mountain Man, Civil War, and Victorian periods. He is passionate about genealogy and has traced his ancestry back 12 generations. His lifelong love of history was inherited from his parents, who would take their sons on weekend trips to Civil War battlefields, the Corning Glass Museum, and Jamestown, where he saw glass being blown. He began collecting as a boy, going antiquing with his mother who instilled in him a love for glass. His first large collection was beer cans. The historical flask and bottle collection was born with a lucky flask find at an estate sale. He managed to transfer his passion for glass to his partner of over 30 years, Cheryl, who has a growing collection of her own, primarily colognes, perfumes, and scents. Brian has two adult daughters living in California and is looking forward to seeing what their futures hold.