SOURCE REFERENCES: 12&12 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, AAWS AABB Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book, AAWS AACOA AA Comes of Age, AAWS ABSI As Bill...
Origin of the Word “Alcohol” From the Arabic al-kuhul, a term applied to members of a group of chemical compounds and, in popular usage, to the...
1774 Publication of Anthony Benezet’s Mighty Destroyer Displayed, the earliest American essay on alcoholism. (SD 4-5) 1784 Dr Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) of Philadelphia, PA was a member of...
1842 Feb 22, Abraham Lincoln spoke to the Springfield, IL Washingtonians. He praised the movement and criticized earlier temperance movements that defined the alcoholic as...
1881 Mar 21, Anne Robinson Ripley was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, IL to Joseph & Joyce Pierce Ripley. (Gv Jun 1950) Oct 29,...
1905 Sep, Bill W’s father, Gilman (after earlier having a bitter argument with Emily) took Bill on a late-night buggy ride and asked him to...
1913 Jan, Bill W failed nearly every mid-year exam and was forced to drop out of school. (BW-RT 58, BW-FH 19-20) Apr, It was clear that Bill W could...
1918 Dr Bob’s father, Judge Walter Smith, died. (DBGO 10) Jan, Frank Buchman met Sam Shoemaker in Peking (now Beijing) China. Shoemaker had a spiritual conversion experience...
1923 Bill W’s mother, Emily, married Dr Charles Strobel. (PIO 75) Dr Bob and Anne adopted a daughter, Suzanne (age 5) the same age as their son...
1929 Dr Bob went back to school to study under the Mayo brothers in Rochester, MN. He also studied at the Jefferson Medical School in...
1933 President Franklin D Roosevelt declared a mortgage moratorium preventing banks from foreclosing on unpaid mortgage payments. This kept both Bill W and Dr Bob...
1935 Early, Bill W worked with alcoholics at the Calvary Mission and Towns Hospital, emphasizing his “hot flash” spiritual experience. Alcoholic Oxford Group members began...
1937 Early, Bill W and Lois attended a major Oxford Group house party at the Hotel Thayer in West Point, NY. For the previous 2...
1939 Jan, the draft book text and personal stories were completed. (AACOA 164, BW-RT 255) Jan, 400 multilith copies of the book were distributed for evaluation. Each copy was...
1941 Fitz M’s sister, Agnes (administrator of the Corcoran Art School, Washington DC) loaned Works Publishing Inc. $1,000 ($12,500 today) to pay Cornwall Press to...
1945 Bill W started seeing psychotherapist, Dr Frances Wickes (a Jungian) once a week on Fridays. He continued to see her until 1949 for his episodes of...
1949 As plans for the first Int’l Convention were under way, Earl T suggested to Bill W that the Twelve Suggestred Points for AA Tradition...
1952 Jan 9, the first AFG Hq (the Clearing-house Committee) was set up at the 24th St clubhouse in NYC. (LR 174-176) Henry (Harry) Z (A Close...
1955 Jan 6, Bill W’s stepmother Christine Wilson died. (PIO 362) Apr, the General Service Board adopted the practice of using the titles Chairman and Vice Chairman...
1958 Apr 28, Bill W presented a talk to the NYC Medical Society on Alcoholism. (HT) Apr, Theme: Promise and Progress. The 8th GSC recommended that:...
1962 Yale U discontinued the School of Alcohol Studies. The school relocated to Rutgers, State U of NJ, in New Brunswick. (GB 172) Jan, Mary B joined...
1966 Mar 21, Ebby T died (of emphysema). He had 2 ½ years sobriety. (LOH 367, EBBY 143, PIO 336) Apr 1, Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin (age 77) died. (LOH 371 says Apr 2)...
1971 Jan 24, William Griffith Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, 36 years sober, died (of emphysema, sometimes described as heart failure) at Miami Beach, FL....
1975 Apr 21-26, Hotel Roosevelt in NYC. Theme: Unity: Through Love and Service. The 25th GSC recommended that: GSO discontinue distribution of the Bill W...
1979 Apr 22-28, Hotel Roosevelt in NYC. Theme: The Legacies: Our Heritage and My Responsibility. The 29th GSC recommended that: The biographies of Dr Bob...
1985 AAWS discovered that the copyrights to the first and second Ed. of the Big Book had expired. The copyright on the first Ed. lapsed...
1989 Jan 13, Dr Jack Norris died. (1989 GSC-FR 40) AAWS took action against Nan R’s trademark violation, to have her change the title of her book...
1993 Apr 18-24, Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza in NYC. Theme: AA Takes Its Inventory – The General Service Conference Structure. The 43rd GSC recommended that:...
1996 Apr 21-27, Crowne Plaza in NYC. Theme: Preserving Our Fellowship – Our Challenge. The 46th GSC recommended that: Suggested guidelines developed by the trustee’s...
2000 Apr 30 – May 6, Crowne Plaza Manhattan in NYC. Theme: Trusting Our Future to AA Principles. The 50th GSC. Jun 29-Jul 2, 65th...
