Introduction to
Dick B. History Articles
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35 Articles (and Free Book)
on
Alcoholics Anonymous History
Introduction
A.A. Articles, and Books on Its History–Why?
by Dick B.
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How the Recent Enthusiasm Began August 2002
In one sense,
interest in A.A. history began shortly after Dr. Bob died and Bill introduced
the Twelve Traditions that would end founder-control. Bill convened the St.
Louis Convention and brought in speakers and personages the rank and file had
scarcely seen. People like Reverend Sam Shoemaker, Father Ed Dowling, and many
others from the earliest A.A. days. Bill capped it off with his Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age.
About the
same period, Bill, his secretary Nell Wing, and others began taping oldtimers
like T. Henry and Clarace Williams who had slipped between the cracks from
their early leadership. But where was the Akron story? Where were the details
about Quiet Time, Shoemaker, the Oxford Group, Anne Smith, and the books of
early A.A.? And where was the Bible–the Good Book that was so important that
A.A.’s basic ideas were taken from it? The Good Book whose use was so
commonplace that some to favored calling A.A.’s fellowship The James Club
(after the Book of James which was so popular among the pioneers)? They just
weren’t items of interest.
Then came an
apparent resurgence of interest in our history about the time of Bill’s death.
Robert Thomsen published his book Bill W. Lois Wilson wrote Lois
Remembers” Ernie Kurtz did his Ph.D. dissertation on the history of A.A.
and called it Not-God. And Bill Pittman was assiduously collecting
books pertaining to the spiritual roots of A.A.–the Bible, the Oxford
Group, and Reverend Sam Shoemaker. He wrote a dissertation called AA The
Way It Began, went into the publishing business, and set the stage for a
new era. But all these works just skimmed the surface of our Biblical ideas
and early Christian Fellowship and the roots that contributed to the early
program’s principles and practices.
Then came the
recovery publishing craze. Everyone seemed to want in on the act. “Recovery
Bibles,” crammed with Scripture and Steps, began to be published by major
Christian publishers. Recovery stores were popping up in many cities. And even
the treatment programs–funded to the max by the insurance support–began to
need books, “recovery” itself, and a team of “professionals”–sometimes called
“two-hatters” (an A.A. hat and a “professional” hat). For a time, there was
lots of money in the game. But still the
Akron story, the Bible, Anne
Smith, Sam Shoemaker, the Oxford Group program, and much much more, were lying
in the discard heap. You didn’t read about them in or out of A.A. literature.
And nobody seemed to have much interest in digging through the rubble.
No one, that
is, except Frank Mauser, the General Services archivist in New York, who had
succeeded Bill’s secretary and A.A.’s first archivist, Nell Wing.
Frank Mauser
(now deceased) was an alcoholic with some twenty years of sobriety under his
belt. He was kind. He was attentive. He was accessible and responsive. He was
knowledgeable. He seemed to have befriended most of the people who were
candidates for A.A. history quests. And he supported the search for history.
In fact, he fathered (and generously acknowledged Carl Sandburg as the source)
a phrase which has been adopted by everyone who even thinks he or she has an
interest in archives or history: The phrase was: “Whenever a civilization or
society perishes, there is always one condition present. They forgot where
they came from.”
And A.A.
seemingly had! Or was well on its way.
Finally, a
curious former attorney, beset with alcoholic zeal, entered the scene and
found a plethora of holes. Not the evidence, just the holes. At first. And
what a scene it was. Lack of publications about A.A. History and its Biblical
roots. Distaste for the Oxford Group and its founder Frank Buchman. Foggy
memories of Reverend Sam Shoemaker. Virtual oblivion for Dr. Bob’s wife Anne
Smith. The myth that Dr. Bob’s early Christian reading had been “given away.”
No real repository of the early literature except the books that Bill Pittman
had been piling up in his offices and at Hazelden. Widespread rejection of
“religion” in favor of “spirituality;” “Christianity” in favor of “meetings;”
and the “God-thing” in favor of “Something” or “not-god” in the recovery
field. And there was burgeoning competition from ill-informed
“Christ-centered” groups, rational recovery groups, New Age proponents,
self-help organizations, and a host of “anonymous” groups–offering anonymity
and Twelve Steps for every malady that could possibly be called an
“addiction.” A sorry scene, it appeared, for any renewed search for the
Creator in a Twelve Step group. In fact, the Creator had new names other than
the name He himself had specified in the Bible, Yahweh: Instead, names
for “a” god or “any gods” like “groups,” “group of drunks,” “good orderly
direction,” radiators, tables, chairs, doorknobs, lightbulbs, the Big Dipper,
goddesses, “someones,” “somethings,” and even Ralph! Lots more too, like “him,
her, or it” and Gertrude. In place of spiritual history and roots, the curious
attorney found the foregoing dumped in the holes. What a scene!.
Significant New Beginnings in 1990
For
me, the curious former attorney–the “recovered” alcoholic, the quest for our
spiritual history began. And I found I was not alone. Dr. Bob’s kids had been
busy having their story written for them. It was called Children of the
Healer. Mel B., who had been writing for the Grapevine, for A.A. itself,
and for Hazelden, had put together his book on spiritual roots called New
Wine. Mary Darrah had apparently received some Jesuit financing for her
Roman Catholic approach, and published Sister Ignatia. Clinging to some
memorabilia he had received from Clarence Snyder’s widow Grace, Mitch K. had
been working on the Clarence Snyder story for years, but had not yet completed
it. And Bill Wilson’s long-time secretary and archivist Nell Wing was having
her story published: Grateful to have been There.” Still others, like
Earl H., had been chewing away from a different angle, collecting all kinds of
important religious and other literature early AAs read, and, in some cases,
privately publishing the materials.
It was a
fertile field for me in 1990. Because, at the beginning, every single one of
these searchers was sharing freely of what he or she had been receiving–as far
as information was concerned. And the doors of our history repositories were
opened to me. Dr. Bob’s kids and Nell Wing were as generous with their time as
could be. The Seiberling and Williams heirs were equally helpful. The Oxford
Group activists of the early days came to the fore in droves–thanks largely to
T. Willard Hunter, the A.A. friend and the Oxford Group activist, who had been
interested in A.A.’s Oxford Group link for many years. Sam Shoemaker’s wife,
daughters, and associates furnished me with liberal quantities of information
and manuscripts. The wife of Shoemaker’s assistant minister (Mrs. W. Irving
Harris) provided me with her husband’s entire group of Sam Shoemaker’s books
and articles. The archives of GSO, Stepping Stones, Dr. Bob’s Home, the
archivist at Dr. Bob’s Home (Ray G.), the Akron Intergroup (Gail L.), Calvary
Church in New York, Calvary Church in Pittsburgh, the Episcopal Church
Archives in Texas, Hartford Seminary, Princeton Alumni Archives; and the
private materials of Oxford Group old-timers and sparkplugs James and Eleanor
Newton in Florida; Garth Lean, Michael Hutchinson, and K .D. Belden in
England; Parks Shipley, Howard Blake, Jim Houck, Charles Haines, George
Vondermuhll, Jr., Willard Hunter, and many other early Oxford Group people in
America, as well as the Moral Re-Armament Headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
were freely shown to me.
Then there
was my reading of some 100,000 pages of materials; the collecting of those
which could be of future use; and the analysis of what they all meant in terms
of the A.A. program.
Fortunately,
about 1980, A.A. itself had previously taken an interest in what was rapidly
slipping away. About 1980, it sent Niles P. around the U.S. to assemble facts
for DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers; and that wonderful resource was
published. It didn’t contain the details. But it did affirm the roots and
offered endless jumping off points for further research into the Akron story.
Pass It On, written substantially by Mel B., was published by A.A.
World Services in 1984. Again the Biblical details were missing, but the
resources gave great promise for further research.
The Leaps and Bounds in more than a Decade
Lots
of things happened to me from 1990 on. Frank Mauser spoke before a large A.A.
audience in Marin County, California. Frank shared the podium with me and
heard me present what I had begun to find about the Oxford Group connection
with A.A. Frank told me, “You have a book in you, Dick.” That’s all it took;
and now there are nineteen, not counting the revisions. I began to see that
there were many roots that had not been researched or put together in any
significant way at all. Each called for travel, interviews, analysis, reading,
and so on if the picture were to emerge as a whole. And, but for the help of
some generous private benefactors, at my own expense.
First, came
my discovery at the home of his daughter Sue that Dr. Bob’s reading and
library not only still existed in the hands of his family, but was extremely
informative. Then, thanks to Dr. Bob’s daughter, I was able to get a copy of
Anne Smith’s Journal and see what a walloping impact her work and writing had
produced and shared with the pioneers. This was followed by my Oxford Group
books on the group itself and on “Quiet Time.” Then by my bibliographical
material on the books early A.A.’s read. Then by my most widely sought and
read title, The Good Book and The Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible.
That book has been reprinted and revised several times. It has given rise to
talks at seminars, conferences, panels, radio shows, and even community
television.
Before long,
I met Grace Snyder at one of the spiritual retreats her husband Clarence had
founded. I spoke and she spoke at the retreat. And I learned from her own
comments to me that what I had found in and about our history was, in large
measure, what she had heard from her husband Clarence Snyder who taught her
the early A.A. picture. She shared with me what she had learned; and the
information became my book That Amazing Grace.
There have
been lots more books and articles. The more I write, the more I find, the more
I write, and the more I find. And here, to introduce the series of articles,
are the results:
!
An ongoing series of more than 34 articles–the subject of this
introduction.
And Now: The Internet Bonanza
Each year since the 1995
International Convention in San Diego, I have been privileged to present a
history seminar at The Wilson House, East Dorset, Vermont. At one of these
seminars, Ozzie Lepper, Jeff F. (an assistant), Bob J. (one of my sponsees),
and I worked on a dream to put all of the historical materials on the internet
for free–and to be viewed for free.. Ozzie had been working on his dream to
make the Griffith House (where Bill Wilson had been raised and next door to
the Wilson House) an accessible library for the spiritual materials. And Jeff
believed we could link that library and our historical collections on Maui and
put them out free on the internet. Making them the first real access that AAs
have had to the evidence of their early program in more than sixty-five
years.
Lots of this has now been
accomplished–in a somewhat different way. And then a new history activist
entered the scene. That A.A. zealot, “L. D.,” had already begun managing (free
of charge) his website for A.A. history. He wasn’t afraid to mention God, our
Biblical roots, the Oxford Group, or the host of different people and ideas
that were fast circulating in the A.A. fellowship.
He didn’t censor the
materials. He didn’t ban any particular writing or approach. He just laid it
all out for all to see.
I think at the time he
began, he had a few over 2,000 visits to his site. But he began really
reaching out. He submitted his site to many internet sources and engines. I
linked his site to mine and featured it. The result was electric. And you can
now see this most unusual, unique, and comprehensive collection of A.A.
history sources that can be found on the net. It’s free. It’s diverse. And
it’s the product of continuing hard work. L.D.’s visits have shot up to 20,000
plus because of the valuable content.
My own emails, phone
calls, faxes, letters, website visits, and personal acquaintances demonstrate
to me the immense interest that now exists in A.A. history. In connection with
this series of articles, I was asked by L.D. to explain why we should study
A.A. history. And here are some of my reasons: