Richard Bevier Brigham ignited the flame that transformed a group interested in automotive history into the solid, strong, and significant group known as the Society of Automotive Historians.
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Dick Brigham was born on May 10, 1907 in Toledo, Ohio, and resided there until 1962 when he moved to Marietta, Georgia, where he passed away July 6, 1995. Dick had a lifelong interest in automobiles and started to drive at age thirteen. His first car was a problem-prone Inter-State which he replaced with a satisfactory Willys-Knight tourer. From the early fifties, he belonged to numerous antique auto clubs and had owned several antique vehicles. His interest in the history of automobiles was sparked by the purchase of a Clymer book when he was on a business trip to New York City. That was the beginning of a comprehensive library which grew over the years. His knowledge base was complemented with extensive correspondence with authors and enthusiasts.
Although he was a machine designer, his interest in old cars led to a change to a change in career, first with the publications of Motormart, a simple advertising paper, then to writing the history of various vehicles in the magazine The Road to Yesterday.
His long life was one of great variety, emphasizing a love for and understanding of motor vehicles. He was a master in ferreting out the facts and stories of them, specializing in those which, without his curiosity and research, would probably have perished as though they had never been. Thanks to this one man, a large number of cars and trucks, that otherwise might have remained forgotten and unknown, live on today, their histories chronicled. Moreover, he set an example for many of us to follow.
Some are born to be leaders or, on a lesser scale perhaps, founders – operators who are gifted in creating groups which continue successfully once they have been formed. Dick was a founder of the Society of Automotive Historians, and remained active in the Society until his death by counseling, advising and printing the Society’s publications. Fortunately for the early financial fortunes of the Society, Dick was a printer.
There did exist a formidable cadre of automotive historians, both here and abroad, many of whom were in contact with one another, but there was no central clearing house, so to speak. Many of them had been writing books and magazine articles for many years or serving as editors and publishers. This void would end in 1969 when, as the result of some correspondence, Dick Brigham and G. Marshall Naul proposed the formation of a group devoted to the history of motor vehicles. On October 11th, 1969, a group gathered at Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Society of Automotive Historians was created. Today, the group comprises several hundred members from around the world.
Dick is listed as member #1HF, meaning that he was a Founder. In 1985 he was presented with and Honorary Membership and “The Friend of Automotive History Award” – the highest accolade awarded by the Society. He was the Society’s first vice-president, and responsible for the Cugnot machine as our symbol.
Dick was the editor of the first 29 issues of the Newsletter (now the SAH Journal) published from from September 1969 to mid-1973, and came back to edit 30 more Journals from January 1984 to December 1988. That means he was responsible for 59 out of the 157 issues published until his passing. The Journal editor is considered as the most important person in SAH because he or she is the direct link to the members; the editor personifies the Society. If the editor drops the ball, members won’t renew. So Dick’s early Newsletters gathered the growing membership and set the tone and tenor which we have tried to follow ever since: informal, inquisitive, and informative.
Dick was also editor of the first ten issues of Automotive History Review, returning to put out an additional seven in the years 1973 to Winter 1988. That’s 17 out of 28 Reviews published to that point. In other words, Dick was responsible for putting out approximately forty per cent of the SAH publications issued during his lifetime. In fact, he was editor of both the Journal and the Review from 1984 to 1988. If that’s not love and dedication, then what is? He was not only our founder, but our sustainer over our first 20 years.
As a writer, editor, publisher and a researcher into automotive history, he was, indeed, a ‘famous man’ and few would question that. He was active in SAH affairs and travelled to its activities, dinners and other meetings until ill health forced him to cut back. It didn’t diminish his interest, and he kept in touch with his fellow members and many friends by phone or mail. In these contacts, he was assisted over the many years by his wife, Founding and Honorary Member Grace, who was an automotive authority in her own right, an author and a helpmate to her husband.
In 1990, the Society honored both Dick and Grace by establishing the Brigham Award, which is presented annually for the best overall treatment of automotive history by a periodical publication over all issues of the previous year. Dick left a memorial – the Society of Automotive Historians – and his name will live because of it. His inspiration affected all of us who knew him. For generations of automotive historians to come, the name of Richard B. Brigham will be regarded with gratitude for all he accomplished in the field he loved.
This profile is a combination of extracts from articles in SAH Journal 157, written by Keith Marvin and Taylor Vinson, and by Brighams’s wife, Grace R. Brigham.