Alcohol and Drugs History Society

AA's Dr. Bob honored

About 2000 people, some on motorcycles, came to an Akron, Ohio, cemetary on Founder's Day to honor Dr. Robert Smith, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. For details, see here.

Bill Pittman (1947-2007) and AA

The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 22/1, Fall 2007, includes an appreciation of Bill Pittman collected and edited by Katherine Nelson. Contributors include Katherine Nelson, Ernest Kurtz, and Charlie Bishop. Pittman was an AA archivist, historian, and publisher as well as a collector of Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Step recovery literature. He died November 9, 2007 at his home in Center City, Minnesota. As a historian he may be best known for his University of Minnesota thesis (1983) published in 1988 and reissued in 1999 as The Roots of Alcoholics Anonymous. He arranged for several years for Hazelden to print and distribute without charge the Social History of Alcohol Review, the predecessor of SHAD. See also here.

Before and much before AA

Volume 3, no. 5 (Oct//Nov./Dec. 2007) of CASQ: Culture, Alcohol and Society Quarterly Newsletter of the Kirk/CAAS Collection of Brown [University] was published in March 2008. Its principal focus is on the immediate predecessors of Alcoholics Anonymous, but there also is a brief installment in the continuing CASQ series on the Washingtonians, remote ancestors of AA. By the way, CAAS are the initials for Brown University's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Brown's resources for the study of alcoholic drink, particularly anti-drink movements, were strengthened by the gift in the mid-1990s of the Chester H. Kirk Collection on Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous. For more, see here.

AA in San Antonio, Texas (manuscript book)

Bob R., AA in SA: a history of Alcoholics Anonymous in San Antonio (San Antonio, Texas: Central Service Office, Alcoholics Anonymous, 2007 and c. 2006). Over 200 pages.

Italian winemakers who resist global tastes

A few Italian winemakers resist global tastes by producing wine from local grapes with a distinctive taste. For more, including wines that will never be drunk in the USA see here.

"Bill W. and Dr. Bob" (play about founders of AA)

An Off-Broadway play, "Bill W. and Dr. Bob" will close on June 11, 2007, after more than a hundred performances. The play, written by Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey, earlier appeared in Boston. The title refers to Alcoholics Anonymous founders, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. For more, see here.

In Recovery: AA membership today

USA Today, 22 May 2007, reports on its front page figures provided by Alcoholics Anonymous.

USA membership: 1,190,637
Canadian membership: 95,984
other membership: 729,097

Transnational Sobriety: Exporting American Ideas about Alcohol and Alcoholism (conference panel)

Culture, Alcohol & Society Quarterly: Newsletter of Kirk/CAAS Collections at Brown, 3/1 (Oct./Nov./Dec. 2006): 2-6, reports details for a panel at the American Studies Association, Philadelphia, October 2007. It is "Transnational Sobriety: Exporting American Ideas about Alcohol and Alcoholism," with as chair Jared Lobdell (editor, CA & SQ), panelists Jason S. Lantzer (Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis), Trysh Travis (Center of Women's Studies and Gender Research, University of Florida), Brian Eugenio Herrera (Department of Theatre and Dance, University of New Mexico), comment by Mark Lender (Kean College of New Jersey).

There are detailed abstracts of the three papers.

Jason S. Lantzer, "Drying up the World: America's Dry Crusade, Wilsonian Idealism, and the Transnational Context"

Trysh Travis, "The Globalization of 12-Step Recovery: Exporting 'The Language of the Heart'"

Brian Eugenio Herrera, "Performative Autobiography and Transnational Sobriety in Ignacio Solares' Delerium Tremens"

Gays in AA (book)

Audrey Borden, The history of gay people in Alcoholics Anonymous: from the beginning (New York: Haworth Press, 2007).

Spirituality increases as alcoholics recover

For decades, recovering alcoholics and those who treat them have incorporated spirituality into the recovery process — whether or not it's religious in nature. But few research studies have documented if and how spirituality changes during recovery, nor how those changes might influence a person's chance of succeeding in the quest for sobriety.

Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center sheds light on this phenomenon. In the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, they show that many measures of spirituality tend to increase during alcohol recovery. They also demonstrate that those who experience increases in day-to-day spiritual experiences and their sense of purpose in life are most likely to be free of heavy drinking episodes six months later.

Find the full story here.

Culture, Alcohol & Society Quarterly

Culture, Alcohol & Society Quarterly: Newsletter of Kirk/CAAS Collections at Brown, vol. 2, no. 8 (July/August/Septpember 2006, recently has appeared. It is the eighth new issue since Jared Lobdell revived the newsletter in October 2004.

Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous (review)

Linda E. Norton reviews George H. Jensen, Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Rhetorical Analysis (Southern Illinois University Press, 2000), in Oral History Review 31/1 ((Winter/Spring 2004). For the text of the review, see here.

Lindsay Lohan in AA

According to CNN, 20-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan has been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for a year and claims that she has not had a drink in a week. Lohan is usually counted among the young partying female celebrities. For more, see here.

Tripping your way to sobriety

Erika Dyck, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, researches and teaches the history of medicine.

Recently, she studied a series of LSD tests of alcohol-addicted patients carried out in the 1960s in Saskatchewan. The tests were done by British psychiatrists Humphrey Osmond and John Smythies.

She told ABC News that two-thirds of the alcoholics stopped drinking for at least 18 months after receiving one dose of LSD, compared to 25 percent who stopped after group therapy, and 12 percent after individual therapy.

According to Dyck, even Alcoholics Anonymous endorses the LSD research.

Read more here.

early Alcoholics Anonymous (book)

Jared Lobdell, This Strange Illness: Alcoholism and Bill W. (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 2004).  William Griffith Wilson, 1895-1971, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Table of Contents Foreword (William L. White) Introduction I. Alcoholism and Treatment for Alcoholism from Early Times to the Repeal of Prohibition II. This Strange Illness of Mind, Body, and Spirit III. A Scientific Note: Typologies, Heredities, and the Adjacent Possible IV. Mind: The Psychology of Alcoholism V. Body: The Biogenetics and Biochemistry of Alcoholism VI. Theology of Alcoholism, Sobriety, and Alcoholics Anonymous VII. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous VIII. The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous IX. Paradigm Regained: Suggestions From Our Scientific Research Program List of Works Cited

alcohol, culture & society newsletter

Culture Alcohol & Society Quarterly: Newsletter of Kirk/CAAS Collections at Brown [University] 2/6 (January/February/March 2006), edited by Jared Lobdell. Includes materials on or related to the San Francisco Dashaways, an installment of the John Ford, S.J., Archive in the Collections of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus, and the continuing series on the Washingtonians. This newsletter and the preceding nine newsletters can be found here.

temperance and Alcoholics Anonymous (thesis)

Andrew Bushard, "From Prohibiting Alcohol to Treating Alcoholism: a Comparative Frame Analysis of the Temperance Movement and Alcoholics Anonymous" (M.A. thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2004).

Hazelden history (book)

McElrath, Damian. Further Reflections on Hazelden’s Spiritual Odyssey. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden-Pittman Archives Press, 1999. [Written for Hazelden’s fiftieth anniversary (1999), this book supplements McElrath’s Hazelden: A Spiritual Odyssey (1987), the definitive history of Hazelden and the development of their multidisciplinary approach known as the “Minnesota Model.”]

Marty Mann of Alcoholics Anonymous (book)

Sally Brown and David R. Brown, A Biography of Mrs. Mary Mann: the First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous  (Center City, MN: Hazelden, 2001).

Sources for Origins and Early History of Alcoholics Anonymous

“Dick B.” (Richard G. Burns) authorized my placing his earlier ADHS electronic list posting on this website. His original post is slightly paraphased here.

The Shoemaker collection is now located in the Shoemaker Room at Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, of which Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Jr., was rector after he left Calvary parish in New York.

The entire AA “Founders Collection” has now been donated by various benefactors to Griffith Library at The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont. This consists of the entire collection of books known to have been in Dr. Bob’s Library (http://www.dickb.com/drbob.shtml), which means the less than half owned by Sue Smith Windows and sold to Brown University, the less than half owned by Robert R. Smith and donated to Dr. Bob’s Home, plus a large number of books which were specifically mentioned by Anne Smith, or Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, or by other sources, or comprising those Oxford Group and Shoemaker books known to have been read and circulated. The collection includes a complete copy of Anne Smith’s Journal (http://www.dickb.com/annesm.shtml). In addition, all the papers and manuscripts of Bill Wilson that I located and was allowed to copy at Stepping Stones. In addition, a large number of copies of Clarence Snyder papers, and some other early A.A. materials. Previously, most of my 23,900 historical items had already been donated to Griffith Library that had its Grand Opening before Ozzie died. The collection in toto is being catalogued and placed on computer so that each item can be easily found and viewed. A small collection of Dr. Bob and Akron-related materials including Oxford Group and other items has been donated to and is located at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church where they are located in the Library and accessible. There remain in my personal collection on Maui perhaps 200 books related to A.A. history and healing, as well as contemporary writings about each. Since I am still actively writing and doing audio talks, these will be retained for a while longer and eventually placed provided funding for the donation is received.

A Million Little Lies

The Smoking Gun exposes James Frey's bestselling nonfiction 'memoir,' A Million Little Pieces, as a fraud, filled with 'fabrications, falsehoods, and other fakery.'  It was the most recent pick of the Oprah Book Club, and hugely popular, in part because it repudiated conventional 12-Step wisdom.  The Smoking Gun investigative team, however, has discovered that almost all of the crucial events in it are exaggerated or outright fabrications.

Find the full story here.  (Thanks to Trysh Travis for the link).

Washingtonians (Article)

Thomas Moriarty, "Springfield's Washingtonians: The triumph of legal sanctions to save the soul of the drunkard," Historical Journal of Massachusetts (Summer 1998): available online here. (Thanks to Dave Trippel for the link).

AA comics now online

Ethan Persoff provides a  complete set of the 1968-1974 Alcoholics Anonymous comic strips now available at this website. (Thanks to Boingboing.net for the link.)

Mexico (bibliography)

Dermota, Ken. “Snow Business: Drugs and The Spirit of Capitalism.” World Policy Journal 16:4 (1999-2000), 15-24. [Explains the increase in drug traffic from Columbia through Mexico to the United States after the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993.]

Rodriguez Centeno, Mabel M. “Borrachera y vagancia: Argumentos sobre marginalidades economica y moral de los peones en los Congresos Agricolas Mexicanos del cambio de siglo.” Historia Mexicana 47:1 (1997), 103-131. [Analysis of statements published by congresses on agriculture in 1896, 1904, and 1905 on the drunkenness and sexual misconduct of rural farmworkers; argues that drunkenness was a form of traditional resistance.]
Rosovsky, Hayde. “Alcoholics Anonymous in Mexico: A Strong but Fragmented Movement.” In Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl and Pia Rosenqvist, eds., Diversity in Unity: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies (Helsinki, Finland: Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research, 1998), 165-184.
Toro, Maria Celia. “The Internationalization of Police: The DEA in Mexico.” Journal of American History 86:2 (1999), 623-640.
Vargaslugo, Elisa. “A Theater of Forms: Austerity of the Soul.” Artes de Mexico 25 (July/August 1995), 75-77. [Explains the fear of exalting worldly values and the consequent extreme temperance that characterizes the eighteenth-century portraiture of colonial New Spain.]

U.S. AA (bibliography)

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. “Historical Data: The Birth of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Its Growth in US/Canada.” Link.

B., Dick. Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939: AA’s Principles of Success. 3rd ed. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998. [Demonstrates Anne Smith’s influence on her husband, Dr. Bob, and on the development of AA.]
B., Dick. By the Power of God: A Guide to Early AA Groups & Forming Similar Groups Today. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2000.
B., Dick. Dr. Bob and His Library. 3rd ed. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998. [A study of the immense reading done by AA’s co-founder, Dr. Robert H. Smith.]
B., Dick. Hope!: The Story of Geraldine D., Alina Lodge & Recovery. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998. [Describes the life and work of Gerry D., the strict disciplinarian whose methods and “unusual philosophy of treatment” gives Alina Lodge a reputation for being the program for people who are “reluctant to recover.” Little Hill-Alina Lodge is a long term, residential rehabilitation center for the chemically addicted in Blairstown, New Jersey.]
B., Dick. New Light on Alcoholism: God, Sam Shoemaker, and AA. 2nd ed. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999. [Study of AA and its relationship to the teachings of the Rev. Dr. Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr., an Episcopal preacher in New York.]
B., Dick. The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous. 2nd ed. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998. [Describes the early meetings of AA, their homes, hospitals, libraries, and families.]
B., Dick. The Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth. 7th ed. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998. [An exhaustive, annotated bibliography of books known to have been read and recommended by early members of Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron and on the east coast of the US.]
B., Dick. The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous. 2nd ed. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1998. [Comprehensive history of the First Century Christian Fellowship, of which AA was an integral part in the developmental period between 1931 and 1939.]
B., Dick. Turning Point: A History of Early AA’s Spiritual Roots and Successes. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1997. [Shows what “the Twelve Step pioneers” borrowed from the Bible, the Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s teachings, the Oxford Group, Anne Smith’s Journal, and assorted meditation periodicals and books of the time.]
B., Dick. Utilizing Early AA’s Spiritual Roots for Recovery Today. Kihei, Hawaii: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 1999. [106 page booklet describing “the six basic sources of AA’s biblical ideas, how those ideas have been weakened today, and how to approach a return to early practices.”]
B., Mel. Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1998. [On Ebby Thacher, 1896-1966.]
Ferraioli, Patricia Marie. “Alcoholics Anonymous and Liberalism: Ideological, Religious and Political Considerations.” Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York, Albany, 1996.
Firks, Virginia Gage Sheets. My Side of the Story: An Autobiography. Fort Wayne, Indiana: Firks, 1998. [On the history of Alcoholics Anonymous in Fort Wayne, Indiana.]
Fitzgerald, Robert, S.J. The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Father Ed Dowling, S.J. and Bill Wilson in Letters. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1995.
Garrett, Valery. “Substance Abuse Treatment in Southern California: The History and Significance of the Antelope Valley Rehabilitation Centers.” Journal of Policy History 8 (1996), 181-205.
Garrity, John Francis. “The Ethos of Power: Navajo Religious Healing of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 1998.
Hartigan, Francis. Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.
Hazelden Foundation. Practice These Principles and What Is the Oxford Group?. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden-Pittman Archives Press, 1997. [Two books in one. The first, Practice These Principles, is an edited version of the second, What Is the Oxford Group?. Written in 1932 and first published in 1933, What Is the Oxford Group? was the basis for the text of Alcoholics Anonymous.]
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. “Professional, Personal, and Popular Culture Perspectives on Addiction.” American Behavioral Scientist 38:4 (February 1995), 537-552.
Kaskutas, Lee Ann. “Hip and Helpful: Alcoholics Anonymous in Marin County, California.” In Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl and Pia Rosenqvist, eds., Diversity in Unity: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies (Helsinki, Finland: Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research, 1998), 25-54.
McElrath, Damian. Dan Anderson: A Biography. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden-Pittman Archives Press, 1998. [Biography of Anderson, former Hazelden President and pioneer of Hazelden’s Minnesota Model.]
McElrath, Damian. Further Reflections on Hazelden’s Spiritual Odyssey. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden-Pittman Archives Press, 1999. [Written for Hazelden’s fiftieth anniversary (1999), this book supplements McElrath’s Hazelden: A Spiritual Odyssey (1987), the definitive history of Hazelden and the development of their multidisciplinary approach known as the “Minnesota Model.”]
McElrath, Damian. Patrick Butler: A Biography. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden-Pittman Archives Press, 1999. [Biography of Butler, Ohio entrepreneur, legislator, recovered alcoholic and long-time President of Hazelden.]
O’Reilly, Edmund. “’Bill’s Story’: Form and Meaning in AA Recovery Narratives.” In David S. Reynolds and Debra J. Rosenthal, eds., The Serpent in the Cup: Temperance in American Literature (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997), 180-204.
Raphael, Matthew J. Bill W. and Mr. Wilson: The Legend and Life of AA’s Cofounder. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000.
Slutske, Wendy S. “Alcohol and Alcoholism.” Ronald Gottesman and Richard Maxwell Brown et al, eds. Violence in America: An Encyclopedia (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1999), 1:59-66. [Summarizes recent scholarship on the relationship between violence and drinking in America.]
Wing, Nell. Grateful to Have Been There: My Forty-Two Years with Bill and Lois, and the Evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous. 2nd ed., expanded and revised. Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1998. [Memoirs of an aide and executive secretary to Bill W.]

Iceland (bibliography)

Gunnlaugsson, Helgi, and John F. Galliher. Wayward Icelanders: Punishment, Boundary Maintenance, and the Creation of Crime. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000. [Chapter 3, “Prohibition of Beer in Iceland.”]

These citations originally appeared in recent “Current Literature” sections of The Social History of Alcohol Review. Jon Miller and David Fahey compiled and edited them. They were also available on the Alcohol and Drugs History Society’s old website, http://athg.org.

Olafsdottir, Hildigunnur. Alcoholics Anonymous in Iceland: From Marginality to Mainstream Culture. University Press, University of Iceland, 2000.

Olafsdottir, Hildigunnur. “Den Islandske Alkoholplotikkens Nedtrapping. Fra Styring til Behandling og Forebyggelse.” [The concession of the Icelandic alcohol policy. From control measures to treatment and prevention.] Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 16 (1999), 116-127.

Olafsdottir, Hildigunnur. “The Entrance of Beer into a Persistent Spirits Culture.” Contemporary Drug Problems 26:4 (Winter 1999), 545+. [On the 1989 repeal of beer prohibition in Iceland.]

Olafsdottir, Hildigunnur.. “Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholism Treatment and the Icelandic Society: Fluctuating Boundaries.” In Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl and Pia Rosenqvist, eds., Diversity in Unity: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies (Helsinki, Finland: Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research, 1998), 55-74.

Olafsdottir, Hildigunnur. “The Dynamics of Shifts in Alcoholic Beverage Preference: Effects of the Legalization of Beer in Iceland.” Journal of Studies on Alcohol 59:1 (January 1998), 107-114.

AA in Scotland (Book)

Jenny Wren, Sir Philip Dundas, Founder of Alcohol Anonymous in Scotland, and His Brothers: The Missing Generation of Arniston (Cleobury Mortimer: M. & M. Baldwin, 2000).  96 pages.

Alkermes injection cuts heavy drinking

Reuters reports (23 May 2005) that Alkermes Inc. has said that its experimental once-a-month injection, when combined with counseling, led to a sustained reduction in heavy drinking over an 18-month period. The study was an extension of the company's six-month late stage trial, which was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That study showed the monthly injection of the drug Vivitrex was effective at helping alcoholics stop craving drink, reducing the chances of a missed or skipped treatment when the same drug is given as a daily pill. Find the full story here.

Finland (article)

Makela, Klaus. “Alcoholics Anonymous in Finland.” In Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl and Pia Rosenqvist, eds., Diversity in Unity: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies (Helsinki, Finland: Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research, 1998), 91-112.

These citations originally appeared in recent “Current Literature” sections of The Social History of Alcohol Review. Jon Miller and David Fahey compiled and edited them. They were also available on the Alcohol and Drugs History Society’s old website, http://athg.org.

Austria (articles)

Eisenbach-Stangl, Irmgard. “Belief in Medicine and Belief in God: Self-Help of Alcoholics and AA in Austria.” Contemporary Drug Problems (Spring 1996), 11-28.

Eisenbach-Stangl, Irmgard. “How to Live a Sober Life in a Wet Society: Alcoholics Anonymous in Austria.” In Irmgard Eisenbach-Stangl and Pia Rosenqvist, eds., Diversity in Unity: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies (Helsinki, Finland: Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research, 1998), 131-147.

These citations originally appeared in recent “Current Literature” sections of The Social History of Alcohol Review. Jon Miller and David Fahey compiled and edited them. They were also available on the Alcohol and Drugs History Society’s old website, http://athg.org.

Can Alcoholism Be Treated?

Business Week reports (11 May 2005) on the stubborness of addictions and the medications that can help. A new report adds to a growing body of evidence that alcoholism - and addiction itself - has unique pathologic traits that can be corrected through chemical intervention. Drug researchers are now striving to bring science to bear on what was long treated as a social problem rather than a medical one. Find the full story here.

Seventy years of AA

BBC News reports (12 May 2005) that it's been 70 years since two "hopeless drunks" set up a group dedicated to helping others beat the bottle. Alcoholics Anonymous has become a global institution, although its message is not to everyone's taste. Find the full story here.

Sources on the history of AA

An online bibliography of sources pertaining to the history of Alcoholics Anonymous can be found here.

The Power of Religion Helps Some Addicts Stay Sober

VOA News reports (20 April 2005) that research shows that involvement in a twelve-step recovery program can be one of the most effective tools in staying sober. These programs take a variety of approaches to rehabilitation. Some are strictly focused on behavior modification. Others, like Alcoholics Anonymous, call upon a "higher power" without proselytizing to help their members recover. But there are those who need something more specifically religious. Some of those folks end up in the basement of the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Find the full story here.

Woman who plead insanity set free

United Press International reports (9 April 2005) that a woman found not guilty by reason of insanity of killing her boyfriend, mutilating his body, and preparing bite-size chunks of his flesh in a stew, has been set free in Alamosa, Colorado. Conditions for her release include holding a job, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, writing daily diary cards and a journal for review by a social worker, and meeting with her case manager three times a week. Find the full story here. (Thanks to Dave Trippel for the link).

The Wilson House, Griffith Library: AA Beginnings

The website of The Wilson House, Griffith Library, at East Dorset, Vermont, which holds volumes, pamphlets, and photographs relating to the history of Alcoholics Anonymous, can be found here.  Many of the books were the favorites of the Oxford Group and early A.A.s.

Documenting Early A.A. Roots and History (Archive)

The website of the international archives of the early history of A.A., 1925-1955, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, can be found here. The site contains and will continue to add the following A.A. history materials: portraits, manuscripts, correspondence, books, articles, documents, archival materials, tapes, and links.

Alcohol Research Group Library

The website of the Alcohol Research Group Library, Serial Holdings, can be found here.

History of Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia

A history of Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia can be found here.

Print Culture in the AA Fellowship (Article)

Trysh Travis' essay, entitled "Print Culture in the AA Fellowship," in Volume 19 of the Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, can be found here.

AA: The Way it Began

A description of Bill Pittman's book, AA: The Way it Began (Hazelton), can be found here.

Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous Collection at Brown University

A description of the Chester H. Kirk Collection on Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island can be found here.

Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous Books and Literature

The Bishop of Books website, a bookseller specializing in the literature of alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous, can be found here.

AA History (Nancy Olsen's listserv group)

The AA History Lovers, listserv group, moderated by Nancy Olsen.

Alcoholics Anonymous History Website

Here is a link to the Alcoholics Anonymous History website by Dick B.  It includes a link to an online AA History Bibliography.

Alcohol and General Health Research

Here is a link to a site devoted to Alcohol and General Health information developed by Prof. Ruth Engs, at Indiana University, Bloomington.