Art's very thorough reply in item 3740 gave reasons why groups
might be undercounted. This included changes in how various
types of groups, meetings, and gatherrings were and were not
counted at various times. A significant cause of undercounting
was that not all groups chose to be registered with GSO.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/3740

Besides those reasons for groups not being registered with GSO,
I add intergroups. In some cities, most AA services are provided
by an intergroup or central office. Groups make sure they are
known to the intergroup because that's what it takes to be on
the local meeting list. Many members and groups are not aware
that there is NO connection between registering with an intergroup
and being known to GSO.

The general service structure of districts and delegate areas
may be unknown in some places. Or some groups stay out of what
they call the "politics" of districts and areas. If they don't
have a GSR then they don't have a voice in the overall policies
of Alcoholics Anonymous and that's just fine with them.

The uncounted groups are offset to a small extent by groups that
are counted more than once. The old group records systems at GSO
only allowed one meeting place for a group. If one real home
group met in a church on Monday and a firehouse on Wednesday and
a school on Friday and a different church on Saturday, they had
to have four different Group Serial Numbers for all of those to
be listed. Sometimes they added a suffix to their group name and
sometimes they just gave up fighting the records-keepers and
used a totally different name for each location. So one home
group and, perhaps, its members would be counted more than once.

The new "Delegate Area Application" is a "relational database"
and has provision for one group to list multiple meeting places.
Transition started in 2003. However, that provision is not widely
used. Groups already listed under multiple names are unlikely
to change. Using that feature is inconvenient and is not even
understood by some area registrars. The New Group Registration
Form still does not provide for a group to register with more
than one meeting location.

--- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, Shakey1aa@... wrote:
>
> With so many new AAHL's out there, I would like to know
> if any have seen a  multilith copy (pre-production) of
> the book Alcoholics Anonymous stamped "loan copy."
>
> I have heard that they may exist but I have never seen
> one.
>
> YIS,
> Shakey Mike
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
I have a copy reproduced from Clarence Snyder's copy, of which there
were quite a few made, and there are no stamps on any of the pages.
Most references I have seen about the "loan copy" story, including
Susan Window's affidavit, dismiss it as a fabrication.  Later, Mike

Hi Cheryl

I've been doing research for about 2 years to assemble material to
write a history of how AA started in Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas (I
live in this locale).

In late January and early February 1940, The Houston Press ran a
series of 6 articles about AA. They were written anonymously by Larry
J. Larry had never attended an AA meeting and had set out from
Cleveland, OH by train to live and work in Houston. While reading the
Big Book on the train he experienced a spiritual awakening. Larry had
been rescued (quite literally) by his sponsor Clarence S, founder of
Cleveland AA. Shortly after the articles were published, Larry was
joined by Roy Y. They started AA in Texas with nothing to guide them
other than the Big Book and corresponding with the NY office.

In April 1940, the 6 Houston Press articles were published as AA's 1st
pamphlet. Larry did write a prayer but I have found nothing beyond
anecdotal assertions of it being called "The Texas Prayer" or it being
used by other groups. Likewise, I doubt that Larry is the author of
the so-called "Texas Preamble." Larry's story has a sad ending. He was
at odds with the early Houston members because they formed a steering
committee to replace him as a bit of a heavy-handed founding leader of
the Houston group. Larry was resentful over the matter and never quite
fully reconciled with the members after that. He returned to drinking
and IV drug use.

Fort Worth was the second group founded in Texas, followed by Dallas.
The earliest verifiable usage I have found of what is called "The
Texas Preamble" comes from the archives of Group #1 in Fort Worth
(today the Harbor Group). It's in a May 1946 document titled
"ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, INC. GROUP ONE REGULAR
PREFACE TO MEETINGS."

The so-called "Texas Preamble" seems to be far more a product of myth
than fact in terms of who authored it and where it actually
originated. It has been attributed to a variety of sources including
early Dallas members (among them Esther E, Olin L and Searcy W) and
also to Larry J but that is only anecdotally sustained and I don't
consider it to be factual.

There is an old adage that "success has many parents and failure is an
orphan" and I think this applies to the myth that surrounds "The Texas
Preamble." There are variants of this "preamble" or "preface" all over
the US. From the bits and pieces of info I've been finding, I'd
attribute the substance of the preamble to the pioneering mid-West
groups (Akron and Cleveland). A section of the preamble is taken
verbatim from the Akron Manual.

Cheers
Arthur

-----Original Message-----
From: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Cheryl F
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 4:18 AM
To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] texas prayer

From message # 590:

"Larry J. of Houston, wrote 'The Texas Prayer,'
used to open AA meetings in Texas. He is also said
to have written the 'Texas Preamble.'"

Does anyone know what this prayer says or where
I can find a copy?

Grateful so I serve,

Cheryl F


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]







Yahoo! Groups Links

Historic group and membership count data can be found in two primary
sources of record. The first is a May 1953 Grapevine article titled
"How Many AAs." It offers estimates of worldwide membership counts
from 1935 thru 1953. There are many caveats in the Grapevine article
explaining both the derivation of the numbers and their
interpretation. Group and membership count data began to be reported
in the final reports of the General Service Conferences from 1954 on.
The counts apply to the prior year of the Conference report and are
typically dated as of January 1 of the current year. In past years the
data were dated as of April of the current year which further
complicates year-by-year comparisons. The count data are also reported
in the Grapevine and Box 459. These data are dependent on groups
submitting new group information forms and group information change
forms to their respective General Service Offices. The US/Canada GSO
consolidates this information for annual reporting to the Conference
and Fellowship.

The data reported in the May 1953 Grapevine article and Conference
reports must be interpreted very carefully, very skeptically and in
proper context. Group counts include only those groups asking the GSOs
to be listed (thousands do not). Groups may or may not report
membership estimates or update estimates over time. Members can be
counted in multiple group estimates and the composition of the numbers
has changed at various points in time from "reported" to "estimated."
All too often these data are interpreted as being precise and they are
not - they are "best guesstimates." Between the period of 1955 to
1981, GSO included a statement in the reported counts giving an
"estimated" count of membership which was typically 3 to 4 times
higher than the so-called "reported" numbers. No information is
provided on where these "estimates" came from. Their validity and
precision appear to be dubious and I'd caution against taking them too
literally. GSO abandoned the practice of offering "estimates" from
1982 on. Also from the period of 1951 to 1984 group and membership
counts were reported for Hospitals. GSO stopped reporting this
category of counts as of 1985.

For purposes of conducting a census, the definition of what is an AA
Group should be pretty straightforward. But you'd be surprised by how
much of an issue it was in the past for the Conference to come up with
a definition of what is an AA Group that could be put into AA
literature. What first gave rise to this was the AA Directory (it's
basically a phone book that lists all the groups in a certain part of
the country/world). In the 1960s complications arose over what groups
and count data to list in the directory because of the emergence of
groups that became involved with problems other than alcohol and
conducted so-called "alcohol and pill" meetings. There were also
groups that were men only, women only, physicians only, lawyers only,
etc., etc. On top of that, there were groups that were essentially
merging with Al-Anon and conducting so-called "Family" or "Family
After" meetings. The winnowing of the group data removed "alcohol and
pill" and "Family" meetings" among others.

For a period of time AA literature (specifically "The AA Group"
pamphlet) suggested subdividing AA into the categories of "groups,"
"meetings" and "gatherings." If a group was in line with Tradition 3
(long form) then it got called a "group." If it went off into other
areas it was labeled a "meeting" and not counted as a group. And if it
was really out in left field it was called a "gathering." Needless to
say, many AA members were not very enthusiastic about those types of
classifications and wanted more clarity in the definition of what an
AA group is. This gave rise to something called the "6-point
definition of an AA group." The 6-point definition was replaced by a
1990 decision of the General Service Conference that defined an AA
group with the long form of Traditions 3 and 5. Then in 1991 the
Conference approved a definition that consists of the long form of
Tradition 3 and "Warranty 6" of Article 12 of the Permanent Conference
Charter (which is also a part of Concept 12).

From 1992 to 1994, overseas count estimates were revised and a major
revision occurred in the US/Canada GSO's counting methods and record
system. The number of groups reported no longer included those
described as "meetings" which chose not to be considered "groups."
Such "meetings" (typically special interest) are included in prior
year's data and inflate that data. The 1992-1994 revisions can
erroneously be interpreted as a steep drop from 1993 to 1994
membership and groups when, in fact, it simply reflects a procedural
change in counting methods. The doom and gloom crowd of AA often
erroneously refer to these counts as a drop in AA membership (which
might give a hint as to the inadequacy of the research methods that
sustain their negativity).

AA is in more than 180 countries (with 57 autonomous GSOs overseas).
Each year, the US/Canada GSO attempts to contact overseas GSOs and
groups requesting to be listed in their records. From the beginning,
the count numbers are at best, "fuzzy" and likely understated and do
need to be interpreted prudently to avoid drawing erroneous
conclusions. GSO cautions that the information they report "does not
represent an actual count of those who consider themselves AA
members." The autonomous and anonymous characteristics of AA groups
make the derivation of accurate and complete counts a difficult matter
to say the least. The data reported are not an accurate measure of a
specific year's increase or decrease. However, trends over the decades
are indicative (but not exact) of AA groups reaching more places and
more AA members achieving recovery.

The 2006 final Conference report offered an estimate of 1,068,761
members for the US, 110,449 members for Canada, 702,769 members
overseas and 65,843 members in prison groups for a total of 1,947,662
worldwide. Because of the thousands of groups that do not register
with GSO and/or update their membership estimates, my sense would be
that the US numbers reported by GSO are likely understated rather than
overstated.

To help put some things in a different perspective regarding counts, a
2006 issue (number 16) of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health
(NSDUH) report carries an article titled "Alcohol Dependence or Abuse:
2002, 2003 and 2004." One of its major findings is that "Among persons
aged 12 or older, 7.6 percent (18.2 million) met the criteria for
alcohol dependence or abuse in the past year." Even though AA may have
a worldwide membership "guesstimated" at almost 2 million, in the
United States alone there are over 18 million persons that would
benefit from hearing the message of recovery that AA carries. There
appears to be much work left to do. That 18+ million number would
probably be a far more useful one to cite at AA functions.

Cheers
Arthur

-----Original Message-----
From: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of mbrandfssr
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 7:27 AM
To: AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] Counting Members 1993 vs 2006


I saw this on AA History Buffs

"GSO changed the way membership counts were calculated after 1993."

Can anyone offer insight into the change?  I was at an AA function
last month where a guy made slight reference to this and claimed our
membership is probably more like 600,000-700,000 in the US








Yahoo! Groups Links

Hi group!

I've been a member of this group for quite a while
and I can usually find the historical data that I'm
looking for through the usual channels but this time
I've got to ask for help.

Where can I find a list of all of the chairmen of the
Board of Trustees for AA and its predecessor the
Alcoholic Foundation.  I've e-mailed GSO and haven't
gotten any acknowledgement.

Thanks for your help!

In Love and Service to Others
Gerry W.

With so many new AAHL's out there, I would like to know
if any have seen a  multilith copy (pre-production) of
the book Alcoholics Anonymous stamped "loan copy."

I have heard that they may exist but I have never seen
one.

YIS,
Shakey Mike


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Mitchell K. wrote:

The kindergarten theme is something Bill used in
different pieces of correspondence. In a letter to
Clarence Snyder dated November 9, 1955 Bill wrote
"After all, A.A. is a sort of kindergarten - It's
something we go through to a better way of life and
wider usefullness."

<mitchell_k_archivist@...>
(mitchell_k_archivist at yahoo.com)
_________________________________________

One of the interesting things about Wilson's writing
is his use of catch-phrases which were current at the
time, but used (by Wilson) in a completely different
way.  I was reading a biography of Edwin Arlington
Robinson recently and was surprised to find the
expression "spiritual kindergarten" in something he
wrote.

A critic had remarked that Robinson's poetry was
extememly pessimistic and that he seemed to see the
world as a "prison-house."  Robinson sent in a response
that he did not see the world as a prison-house, but
as "a  kind of spiritual kindergarten where milllions
of bewildered infants are trying to spell God with the
wrong blocks."  I'm sure that made everyone feel better.

The way Robinson used the phrase suggests to me that
his version was an original invention.  Bill Wilson
certainly put a nicer spin on it, though.

Cora

I have come across a 24 Hours a Day volume that lists Richmond Walker as
author in two places.  I understood that he did not want to be listed hence
the statement in most of the volumes have "Compiled by a member of the
Group at Daytona Beach, Fla." usually at the very end of the book.

This volume has "Richmond Walker" on the title page and "Editor's
note:  This book was compiled by Richmond Walker (1892-1965) of the Group
at Daytona Beach, Florida." on the copyright page.  No publishing date is
given.

Since Walker appeared to not want his name in the book, I am wondering if
any list member has information on why Hazelden felt the need to put it in now?

Tommy in Baton Rouge

From Shakey Mike and George Cleveland.

The original question was from Mike Cullen
<mcullen@...>  (mcullen at shaw.ca):

On page 95 of "As Bill Sees It," Bill W. talks of us
"operating a spiritual kindergarten."  The note at the
bottom says that this came from a letter which he wrote
in 1954.

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the whole
letter from which this short excertp has been taken?

thank you
Mike Cullen
___________________________________

From: Shakey1aa@...  (Shakey1aa at aol.com)

I think I would try GSO Archives in NY.
Shakey Mike
___________________________________

From: george cleveland
<pauguspass@...> (pauguspass at yahoo.com)

The Spiritual Kindergarten concept comes up beautifully
in a Grapevine essay that Bill wrote in the June 1958
issue. This essay, along with the January '58 piece on
Emotional Sobriety, continue to have tremendous resonance
for me.

Both essays are in Language of the Heart and online
from The Grapevine.

Through lack of disciplined attention and sometimes
through lack of the right kind of faith, many of us
keep ourselves year after year in the rather easy
spiritual kindergarten I've just described.

George Cleveland

The kindergarten theme is something Bill used in
different pieces of correspondence. In a letter to
Clarence Snyder dated November 9, 1955 Bill wrote
"After all, A.A. is a sort of kindergarten - It's
something we go through to a better way of life and
wider usefullness."



--- Mike <mcullen@...> wrote:

> On page 95 of "As Bill Sees It," Bill W. talks of
> us "operating a spiritual kindergarten."
>
> The note at the bottom says that this came from a
> letter which he wrote in 1954.
>
> Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the
> whole
> letter from which this short excertp has been taken?
>
> thank you
>
> Mike Cullen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Hi,

In the 12x12 Bill W. wrote:

"A member gives us a vivid glimpse of those days.
"At one time," he says, "every A.A. group had many
membership rules.  Everybody was scared witless that
something or somebody would capsize the boat and
dump us all back into the drink.  Our Foundation
office asked each group to send in its list of
'protective' regulations.  The total list was a
mile long.  If all those rules had been in effect
everywhere, nobody could have possibly joined A.A. at
all, so great was the sum of our anxiety and fear."

Does anyone have this list of `protective' regulations?
Or is it on the Internet (a link) or can anyone send
it to me privately?

Thank you in advance.

Have a great day.

Teemu Valmari
Jyvaskyla, Finland

From message # 590:

"Larry J. of Houston, wrote 'The Texas Prayer,'
used to open AA meetings in Texas. He is also said
to have written the 'Texas Preamble.'"

Does anyone know what this prayer says or where
I can find a copy?

Grateful so I serve,

Cheryl F


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

As mentioned in Message 3720, the first group was
the Lamplighters in 1991.

An article on "The History of the Lamplighters Group
of Alcoholics Anonymous" can be found at:

http://aa-lamplighters.org/public/history.htm

On page 95 of "As Bill Sees It," Bill W. talks of
us "operating a spiritual kindergarten."

The note at the bottom says that this came from a
letter which he wrote in 1954.

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the whole
letter from which this short excertp has been taken?

thank you

Mike Cullen

George,

I have created a version to index the stories in the
various BB editions.

It is an Excel spreadsheet which requires a version of
Excel "new" enough to support multiple worksheets.

For those whose computers cannot open this, I can also
send people a stripped down version (only one worksheet).

The "actual" list is on the Master worksheet; all other
sheets are formulae that read from Master......

If anyone is interested, I've also got a MS Word document
that contains brief biographies of most of the authors --
all the text is on the HistoryLovers site -- I've just
consolidated it.

If any would like a copy, please contact me directly at:

jakewaddell@... (jakewaddell at juno.com)

(Please do not send your request to the AAHistoryLovers
address, because it does not have a "forwarding" button.)

-Jake-

From James Bliss and Mike Brewer: two other online sources.
______

From: james.bliss@...
(james.bliss at comcast.net)

In addition to what the moderator provided, there is a list at:
http://silkworth.net/aabiography/storyauthors.html
______

From: Mike Brewer <tuswecaoyate@...>
(tuswecaoyate at yahoo.com)

http://www.barefootsworld.net/origbbstories.html#authors_om
will answer your question quite thoroughly.

I saw this on AA History Buffs

"GSO changed the way membership counts were calculated after 1993."

Can anyone offer insight into the change?  I was at an AA function
last month where a guy made slight reference to this and claimed our
membership is probably more like 600,000-700,000 in the US

Is there already a list somewhere of all of the personal
stories and the names of their authors???  I have been
writing the names in my copy of ESH as I go along, but
it is a painstaking process.. and I suddenly realised that
I am sure that somewhere on this site will be a history
buff who already has this down on a Word of Excel document.

Is there anyone offering...?

Thanks!!!
George Smith, Boston (new to the group)

______________________________

From the moderator:

One excellent place to find a lot of information of this
sort is the site for the West Baltimore Group of Alcoholics
Anonymous, which is maintained by Al W., and can be found at
http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/index.htm

There is a list of all the AA historical information
on this site (a general Table of Contents) at
http://www.a-1associates.com/sitemap.html

The specific material you are asking for is found in the
"Biographies of the Authors of the Stories in the Big Book"
which is at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/Authors.htm

These short biographies were written by Nancy Olson, who
founded our AAHistoryLovers web group, and served as its
moderator until her death.

There is also a list of names of people and details about
events in the Big Book, listed by page number, which is
located at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/BB-Who-What.htm

Also, because people tend to forget, if you
go to the AAHistoryLovers Message Board at
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/messages
there is a little box at the top where you can search
our past messages for a particular name or word.  This
is not a perfect search engine -- it will not find every
instance -- but it is a good idea to do a search here before
sending a question in.  A lot of the time, it will turn out
that the answer was already posted at some point in the past.

Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana)

Thanks, Doug -- and to all who replied to my query, here or privately.
I think I already knew it, but you have again demonstrated that this is
really a great group with a lot of generous people! I am grateful to all
of you and especially to Glenn and Art who put so much loving effort
into it.

ernie kurtz


dhart1@... wrote:
> Hi Ernie.
>
> There's some good information on the OIAA site.
> Look to the bottom under the link titled "AA in
> Cyberspace - Now" by John P.
>
> Doug

there is a third printing that was listed on ebay about ten years ago.  The
ad showed the Harper cover and printing page.  I do not recall the letters
displayed.  I bid on it but did not have enough money to stay in the running
for the book.  If I had known the significance of a third printing I would
have tried harder to get the item for my archive collection.
I believe Harper only printed one run of AA Comes of Age.  Does anyone know
if this is true.

Here are some numbers that were in AA History Lovers last year:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/2310

http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/press/2004/NESARCNews.htm#chart
Alcohol Abuse (but not Dependent)
1992 3.0% 5.6 Million
2002 4.7% 9.7 Million
Alcohol Dependent
1992 4.4% 8.2 Million
2002 3.8% 7.9 Million
Total Abuse or Dependent
1992 7.4% 13.8 Million
2002 8.5% 17.6 Million

They surveyed unincarcerated adult civilians in the United States
The analysis was based on definitions in DSM-IV by American
Psychiatric Association. Survey was conducted by US Census Bureau
in 1992 and was repeated as much the same as possible in 2002.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/message/3031

Read these posts and the related link for more information.

I am seeking information on AA and AlAnon books to
include printings and dates.  If anyone out there has
this information or knows someone who could help me
compile the remaining data I am assembling for a
pamphlet I would appreciate you contacting me at

nov85@...  (nov85 at graceba.net)

Thanks and God bless.

John Wikelius
301 North Rawls Street
Enterprise, Alabama  36330

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi.

I believe I have a partial answer to the questions posed.  Regarding printing
dates there are Two upper case letters printed on the title  pages of the
Harper publications. The first one relates to the month, "A" being  January. B
February etc.  The second letter being the year,  "A"  being 1951 (The starting
letter in the period of these  publications). One letter of the alphabet is
not used which I believe is "J"  .

I have Two Harper printings of the 12 * 12 . The first one has  the letters
D-C representing April 1953 and the other book has B-K for February  1960.
(Using the formula given above). I believe this is the Second printing.  The AA
Comes of Age book I have has H-G which  represents September 1957. I cannot tell
you how many were printed but I do  know that only Two copies of the Second
printing of the 12*12 have come up on  eBay in the last Five years. Copies of
the 12*12 are obviously much rarer than  AA Comes of Age.

Do any of the members of this group know if there
are any more printings than those I have listed  above?

In fellowship. Dudley D


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Ernie.

There's some good information on the OIAA site.
Look to the bottom under the link titled "AA in
Cyberspace - Now" by John P.

Doug
______________________________

From the moderator, Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana):

OIAA is the Online Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous,
see http://aa-intergroup.org/

Excerpts from John P.'s excellent talk are given
below. For the transcript of his full talk, see
http://aa-intergroup.org/html/cyberspacenow.html

"AA in Cyberspace - Now"
by John P.
(presented June 30, 2000, transcribed from tape)

"I am kind of an old-timer on the Internet. In 1968 I
was working at the Rand Corporation, doing some research
for the Department of Defense. The guys down the hall
in Computer Sciences were sending computer output down
to the telephone exchange in Santa Monica and back and
comparing it with the data they sent across the room
.... Two years later, in 1970, we had coast-to-coast
hookup .... Today we have about 70 million computers
online, and that's a lot."

"We think the first contacts between AA members were
around 1986. There are more experts on that subject in
this room than anywhere else you could find, and some
may know an earlier date, but I think it was around
there."

"By July of 1991, thanks to a couple of pioneers, they
started to have regular email meetings on Genie.   That
was Lamplighters, the first group, which as Jim mentioned
has been the largest group as well as the oldest group,
followed closely by MOMS.  How many Meeting of  Minds
members do we have out here? (Hands show) It started in
Scotland and is almost as old as Lamplighters. It's been
meeting on the air 24 hours a day,seven days a week ever
since then, serving Alcoholics Anonymous members who
wanted to meet for one reason or another."

"Some of the meetings are Big Book Meetings, some are
step meetings, some discourage off topic discussion, some
discourage cross talk, some encourage cross talk, some
encourage thread discussion. You may have seen discussions
of such things as recovered versus recovering, or should
you use medications if you are an AA member; things like
that. Some of them have a full list of officers, GSR,
Intergroup Reps."

"For those who are not aware of it, the Online Intergroup
of AA formed after the last International Convention,
growing out of the Living Cyber Committee that put up the
Hospitality Room."

"There's a new online group that I really enjoy called
AA History Buffs.** It's just a terrific meeting that has
been covering a lot of AA history and I have learned a lot
of things that I didn't know."

[**From the moderator:  That was the ancestor of the
AAHistoryLovers, founded in March 2000 by Nancy Olson,
see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aahistorybuffs/ for
the old messages.  In March 2002, Nancy changed its name
to the AAHistoryLovers.  Nancy died on March 25, 2005,
see her memorial at http://hindsfoot.org/nomem1.html for
an account of her fascinating life.]

"Let me give you some categories of people that can't
just go down to the church basement .... There are the
homebound, including those who are bed-ridden ... there
are those with mobility impairments who can't move
around very well and can't get to the meeting. There
are a lot of members who can't hear well.  There's a
large number of members who are caregivers and can't
leave people in their care who are too young, too old
or too ill and the caregivers can't find a substitute
who can cover for them. There are shift workers, including
shift workers in places where there are only 1 or 2
meetings and those meet while they are working ....
There are remotely located people. Once on Lamplighters
  ... we had one at the North Pole and one at the South
Pole. Someone wisecracked that it was a bi-polar group."

"Sometimes I think the excessive anonymity that we have
in online AA is a problem because people are able to say
things online that they probably wouldn't say face to face.
That's a problem for us and it's working itself out over
time I think. So we still have some arguments and some
shootouts and some flames and some threads that you get
tired of, and things of that sort. But all in all, the
online AA experience is turning out to be a great way to
do AA. If there are problems, there are solutions."

[AA celebrates its first year in Ahmedabad, the seventh
largest city in India.  Ahmedabad, with a population of
more than 5.2 million, is over on the western side of
India in Gujarat, about seventy miles from the seacoast,
up near the border with Pakistan.  Moderator's note.]

Ahmedabad, September 17 (Express India News Service)

An year off bubbly, Alcoholics
Anonymous drinks to its health

They aren't saying hic, hic, hurray, but guess why
the Ahmedabad chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
is celebrating.

AA, a voluntary group that helps alcoholics overcome
their addiction, completed one year this month and the
chapter held a meeting on Sunday to share their
experiences of the past year. It's ironical that the
group is thriving in what is known to be ''the driest
State of them all.''

AA, which works on the ideology of sharing experiences,
strengths and hopes with one another, started with a
strength of five members here. Now, there are around
35 members in the group, with members keeping their
identity a secret.

One of the founding members of the Ahmedabad chapter
said their main goal was to help people get over alcohol
addiction and that they welcome people from all classes
and religions.

"We work on the simple principle of being honest to our
selves. All Alcoholics Anonymous members take a vow every
morning that they will not drink that day and try to
adhere to their promise," he added.

The members meet twice a week and share their experiences
and problems in countering alcoholism. Apart from Ahmedabad,
AA also has its chapters in Idar, Vadodara, Surat, Vapi
and Daman in Gujarat.

Those who are alcoholics and want to overcome the addiction
can contact Alcoholics Anonymous' helplines at 98981-05573,
93740-25501, 93746-14245.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=201658

If you turn right at the street before the John Hay Library and then
right at (I think) the next street, there is (or used to be) five-hour
parking (I can't recall the names of the streets).  I can assure you
the pencil-and-pad restriction applies to all researchers (or did when
my wife and I were last there).  The collections at Brown include the
Kirk Collection (put together by Charlie Bishop), the Dr. Bob papers,
Clarence papers (put together by Mitch K.), Marty Mann NCA (NCADD)
Papers which include material from Yev Gardiner, the Ernie Kurtz
papers gathered both before and after he wrote Not-God, and a whole
lot of temperance stuff.  Tovah is Librarian for the whole Kirk/CAAS
[Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies] and other connected
Collections.  I believe Brown subscribes to the same anonymity
restrictions with regard to their collections as GSO does with regard
to theirs (barring the Clarence collection where his own views on
anonymity may take preference and of course the Marty Mann NCADD
collection, which does not involve her work with AA).  The Kirk online
location is
www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/libs/hay/collections/
kirk/index.html

Maybe someone can help me with this.

We frequently hear and use the statement that only ten percent of the
world population is alcoholic - usually qualified with the inclusion
of "estimated" and "professionals".

Does anyone know from where these estimates originate and who
the "professionals" are who did the estimating? I am looking to
validate this statement.

Thanks.

Peace,

Danny Schwarzhoff

Hi,

I am trying to trace the history of online AA,
AA online.  Individual members no doubt communicated
with other members as one way of enhancing their
sobriety long before the web, perhaps even in the
early days of ARPA-NET.

But does anyone have any idea when and where and
how the first self-conscious “group” or “meeting”
began . . . maybe  in "bulletin-board" days?
Please, I will appreciate any help on this, via
AAHL or directly, if you prefer.

Thanks.

ernie kurtz

<kurtzern@...>
(kurtzern at umich.edu)

Seeking information on third printing
need Harper date
converted date
does anyone know how many of each Harper was printed?

Does anyone know how many Harper AA Comes of Age were printed?

This from the September 16, NY Times Opinion Page.

Appreciations
Ann R., Alcoholic



Article Tools Sponsored By
By MAURA J. CASEY
Published: September 16, 2006

Former Gov. Ann Richards of Texas will be remembered for her wit, her
one-liners and especially for the keynote speech at the 1988
Democratic Convention, which was, in retrospect, the high point in the
party's dismal campaign for the presidency that year. To intrigued
television viewers nationwide, Ms. Richards, with her big hair and big
attitude, epitomized the kind of formidable woman that is a hallmark
of the Lone Star State. People liked her down-home phrases. When she
said, "We're gonna tell how the cow ate the cabbage," they believed
her. She leavened a plain-spoken manner with wisecracks. Both helped
elect her governor two years later.

But her political career eclipsed what Ms. Richards called "one of the
great, great stories" of her life: her recovery from alcoholism and
her nearly 26 years of sobriety. That triumph deserves to be more than
a line in her obituary.

In so many ways, her decision to stop drinking and enter a
rehabilitation program in 1980, after a painful intervention by family
and friends, was necessary for her continued rise in public life. What
made Ms. Richards different was her decision to be forthright about
the fact that she was a recovering alcoholic. She didn't hide it. "I
like to tell people that alcoholism is one of my strengths," she said.
She was right. Alcoholics know that seeds of healthy recovery grow
from the need to mend their own flaws to stay sober, one day at a
time. Ms. Richards faced her imperfections fearlessly, and that
enabled others to be fearless, too, if only for a little while.

She never stopped helping people. One well-known author said the first
mail she received after enrolling in a rehabilitation program was an
encouraging letter from Ms. Richards. A politician who left rehab and
wondered how on earth he was going to avoid drinking when he got home
well after midnight found Ms. Richards waiting for him when he
arrived. As governor, she started treatment programs in Texas prisons.
When she visited, she would tell the inmates the simple truth: "My
name's Ann, and I'm an alcoholic." Her imperfection had become a
source of inspiration for others.

Ann Richards was funny, wise and compassionate. At 73, she died too
soon. But she died sober.

MAURA J. CASEY