Dozens of pick-up trucks line the perimeter of an empty parking lot in the middle of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Truck beds hang open as International Brick Collectors Association, or IBCA, members unload, then thoughtfully arrange sacrifices from their brick collections. Most of the bricks are ornamented with designs or labels signifying the brickyards they originated from. Some date back several centuries.

The excitement is palpable in the moments leading up to this trimester’s brick swap. Every few months, brick collectors and enthusiasts from all over the world gather to swap bricks. The competition is friendly, but fierce.

IBCA members claim bricks by placing a foot on their preferences (Photo courtesy of Becky Meacham)

“The horn honks and all hell breaks loose,” says Larry Meacham, a Texas-based collector and long-time IBCA member. “You got 80-year-olds running around with 10 bricks under their arm. I mean, it is hilarious.”

The horn signals to members that they may officially claim their selections. Some members claim their priority brick up to an hour before the horn is sounded, locking in their choice by placing a foot on their preference. Others prefer the thrill of waiting until the last second to make their selection, catching up with fellow members in the meantime.

Seemingly moments after the honk of the horn, the brick swap is complete. Months of planning, anticipation and excitement are over within minutes.

Larry Meacham holds his most sought after brick after finally tracking it down (Photo courtesy of Becky Meacham)

Meacham’s wife, Becky, is the vice president of the IBCA. The lion’s share of her position involves scheduling and organizing swaps.

“It’s the worst position,” she says with a laugh. “They need someone to find a host for the brick swaps.”

The IBCA’s triennial sanctioned swaps occur throughout the United States. Recent swaps have been located in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Kansas.

“If you're a sanctioned swap, you get like $600 in expense money to help put on the swap,” Larry Meacham says. “But we're getting more and more of these little regional swaps where club members will just throw it out there that they’re going to get together.”

While members are authorized to exchange bricks outside of a swap setting, the IBCA prohibits the buying and selling of bricks.

“The deal of the club is that we do not sell bricks,” Meacham says.

Most collectors feel strongly about not purchasing bricks from one another, but are willing to do so from antique stores, for example.

Larry and Becky Meacham stand with the mascot of the Acme Brick Company in Elgin, Texas (Photo courtesy of Becky Meacham)

“We're collectors and if there's a good brick out there and I want it, I'm gonna buy it” Meacham adds.

According to the Meachams, the IBCA currently has about 400 members. Every person is assigned a number when he or she joins the club. Members take pride in their numbers: the lower the number, meaning the earlier one joined the IBCA, the more impressive.

“You’ve got a number for life. When you pass away, the number stays with you,” Meacham says.

Jim Graves surrounded by a portion of his brick collection in Wichita, Kansas (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

Jim Graves, number 15, is one of the original club members. Graves joined the club when it was established in 1983.

“I’m one of the old-timers,” Graves says.

In the early 1970s, Graves, a Kansas native, joined the Wichita Barbed Wire Collectors Association (WBWCA). At the time, about half of the WBWCA were also brick collectors. Throughout the ’70s, when the WBWCA held barbed wire trade shows, members swapped bricks as well.

“When the IBCA started up most of those people transferred over,” Graves adds.

Part 1: The original advertisement for the first-ever IBCA brick swap, in 1983 (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

Part 2: The original advertisement for the first-ever IBCA brick swap, in 1983 (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

Although some collectors have begun bringing other items to brick swaps, Graves does not believe history will repeat itself and that bricks are here to stay.

“I think it's going to primarily stay bricks. There are a few crazy people like me that have collected other things like manhole covers, but a manhole cover might weigh 200 pounds so you don't do a lot of swapping around on those” Graves says.

Today, Graves is the IBCA historian. He collects any historical information about bricks and the plants they originated from, researching archives from the Library of Congress, for example.

1 / 6

July 1990: Brick Swap in Streator, Illinois (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

2 / 6

July 1990: Brick Swap in Streator, Illinois (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

3 / 6

July 1990: Brick Swap in Streator, Illinois (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

4 / 6

July 1990: Brick Swap in Streator, Illinois (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

4 / 6

July 1990: Brick Swap in Streator, Illinois (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

4 / 6

July 1990: Brick Swap in Streator, Illinois (Photo courtesy of Jim Graves)

❮ ❯

Members write to Graves inquiring about the history of their bricks. Due to his database of over 14,000 bricks, which he has been coding for nearly four decades, Graves is usually able to identify what company made the brick and when the company was in operation.

“The history behind all these things is the really interesting part about it,” Graves says.

While the appeal of brick collecting for Graves is the history, people collect bricks for a number of reasons: Some collectors are brick masons who are naturally surrounded by bricks every day. Other collectors are geologists who are interested in the physical nature of bricks as well as the scientific process behind brickmaking. Then there are some who just love bricks.

Julia Whitney Barnes collecting bricks (Photo courtesy of Julia Whitney Barnes)

Julia Whitney Barnes installing her brick art installation of the Hudson River (Photo courtesy of Julia Whitney Barnes)

Hudson Valley-based artist, Julia Whitney Barnes, is drawn to the cultural aspect and artistic possibilities that come with bricks.

Hudson Valley-based artist, Julia Whitney Barnes' completed brick art installation of the Hudson River (Photo courtesy of Julia Whitney Barnes)

“I have a background in ceramic sculpture and ceramics so I've been glazing and firing [bricks] using modern ceramic technology, ” she says.

Her current project, which she has been working on for nearly a decade, is a scaled version of the Hudson River. The installation is entirely made out of bricks from the brickyards that once surrounded the Hudson River Valley. She hopes to include at least one brick from each of the 400 brickyards. So far, she has collected bricks from about 300 of the brickyards, many of which she sources at brick swaps.

“I'm an artist who has become a brick collector through this project,” says Whitney Barnes. “I wanted for people to be able to visualize this history in a new way.”

An up-close look at Hudson Valley-based artist Julia Whitney Barnes' brick art installation of the Hudson River (Photo courtesy of Julia Whitney Barnes)

While Whitney Barnes seeks to preserve brick history, she is hopeful about the future of brick collecting.

“When I started collecting bricks I was in my early 30s and pretty much everyone I was doing swaps with was like 60 to 70-year-old men,” Whitney Barnes says. “I gave a lecture three years ago about brick collecting and there were tons of young women there. It just felt like a turning point that so many new people were interested in bricks.”

Recently, Whitney Barnes took notice of the reach brick swaps were receiving on the social media app, TikTok. A friend of hers, who is a fellow collector, was receiving millions of views on his videos. This inspired her to start creating her own videos and spread the word about bricks.

“I know that there are not a million people every time that want to collect bricks,” she says. “But maybe five to 10% of the people who watch the videos will look at bricks in a new way.”

In addition, Whitney Barnes feels social media is the brick collecting community’s best chance at going global. Currently, the Facebook Group, “Crazy About Bricks – A Group For Brick Collectors,” has over 3,000 members from all over the world.

“It's called the International Brick Collectors Association, but the organization is maybe like 95% United States. There are definitely collectors all over the world, but [they belong to] different organizations” she says. “Maybe through social media, that's much more global, you will have a genuine international brick collector’s association.”

Many members enjoy the sense of community they cultivate through this unique hobby.

“I think when you are into something that not that many people are into, you get a really supportive environment, where it's like, you're not really competition, you're all just trying to nurture this history,” Whitney Barnes says.