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Timelines of Historic AA Events

1877 (July) – William D. Silkworth M.D. is born in Brooklyn NY

1879 (August) – Dr. Bob, AA’s co-founder, was born in St. Johnsbury VT

1881 (March 21) – Anne R., Dr. Bob’s wife, is born

1890 (August) – E.M. Jellinek, Ph.D., author of “The Disease Concept of Alcoholism” & creator of the “Jellinek Curve”, was born

1891 (March 3) – Lois W. is born

1893 (December 27) – Rev. Sam Shoemaker was born. He was head of the U.S. Oxford Group movement & minister of Calvery Church in NYC, where Ebby took Bill W. to the mission on 23rd St. in NYC

1895 (November 26) – Bill W. is born in East Dorset VT

1904 (October) – Marty Mann, an early AA woman & founder of the Nat’l. council on Alcoholism & author of the best-selling book “Primer on Alcoholism,” was born in Chicago IL

1915 (January 25) – Dr. Bob marries Anne R

1918 (January 24) – Bill W. marries Lois B.

1934 (August) – Ebby T., Bill W.’s boyhood friend & sponsor, sobers up in the Oxford Group for two years

1934 (November 11) – Bill W.’s last drunk begins & lasts about a month

1934 (December 11) – Bill W. takes his last drink & enters Towns Hospital. Bill has a spiritual experience there & the obsession with alcohol is removed

1934 (December) – Bill & Lois start attending Oxford Group meetings with Ebby

1935 (May 11) – Alone in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel in Akron OH between the bar & the telephone, Bill W. makes 11 phone calls & finally gets Henrietta Seiberling, who introduces him to Dr. Bob

1935 (May 12) – Bill & Dr. Bob meet for the 1st time in Akron OH at Henrietta Seiberling’s Gate House. It was Mother’s Day.

1935 (June 17) – Dr. Bob’s last drink. Bill W. & Dr. Bob founded the Fellowship in Akron OH. Thousands of AA’s from all over the world gather in Akron each year for AA Founder’s Day Weekend

1935 (July) – Akron OH lawyer Bill D. leaves the hospital sober & becomes AA #3

1935 (Late July) – Ernie G. becomes AA #4 & AA’s first “young person”. Ernie later married Sue Smith, Dr. Bob’s daughter

1935 (September) – Bill W. returns home from his Akron OH trip & AA begins in NYC

1935 (September) – Hank P., the NY group’s AA #2, takes his last drink, but after four years of sobriety, he goes back to drinking again

1935 (October) – Ebby T, Bill W.’s boyhood friend & who introduced him to the Oxford Group, moved in with Bill & Lois

1936 (February) – First AA group in Akron OH is set upon a firm footing

1936 (March) – Bill & Lois visit Fitz M. in Maryland. He’s “Our Southern Friend” in the Big Book stories

1936 (November) – Fitz M. leaves Towns Hopital to become NY area’s AA #3, besides Bill W. & Hank P.

1937 (January) – Fitz M. & others bring AA to Washington D.C. area

1937 (February) – The Oxford Group’s “alcoholic squadron” meets at Hank P.’s home in NJ

1937 (September) – Florence R. is the 1st female AA in NY

1937 (October) – AA meetings are held weekly at Bill & Lois’s home at 182 Clinton ST., Brooklyn, the 1st NY AA group

1937 (October) – Dr. Leonard Strong, Bill W.’s brother-in-law, writes Rev. Willard S. Richardson of the Rockefeller Foundation seeking money for the new recovering drunks group that will be AA

1937 (October) – Bill & Lois leave by automobile for Akron OH

1937 (December) – Bill meets with Rockefeller Foundation in an attempt to raise money

1937 (December) – Rockland State Hospital takes alcoholic patients to an AA meeting in South Orange NJ

1938 (January 2) – First sales of Works Publishing Co. recorded

1938 (January) – New York AA splits from Oxford Group (which has been renamed “Moral Re-Armament” or “MRA”)

1938 (January) – Jim B., a former atheist, gives AA “God as we understand Him”

1938 (April) – 18 AA’s attend weekly meeting at 182 Clinton St. NYC, Bill’s home

1938 (April) – Alcoholic Foundation (which later became GSO) five trustees, three of them “Rockefeller People”, hold 1st meeting

1938 (May) – Bill W. & other AA’s begin writing the Big Book

1938 (June) – Lois gets mad at Bill & visits her sister in NJ. She said this was one of the two times Bill came close to drinking again

1938 (June) – 1st use of the name “Alcoholics Anonymous

1938 (June) – Hank P. & Bill W. solicit rich people on the “Rockefeller” but get no money

1938 (June) – Jim B. (Big Book story “Vicious Cycle”) sobers up

1938 (June) – Two associates of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., tells the press about a book “not to bear any author’s name but to be by “Alcoholics Anonymous”

1938 (July) – Ruth Hock types the first of many thousands of letters to drinkers needing help

1938 (August) – 1st meeting of the Alcoholic Foundation (which later became GSO)

1938 (August) – Akron OH & the NY AA’s begin writing their stories for the Big Book

1938 (September) – Bill W. & Hank P. form Works Publishing Co. to raise money to write & publish “Alcoholics Anonymous”, our Big Book. Fitz M.’s sister Agnes lends Bill W. & Hank P.
$1,000 to help them get through the Big Book project

1938 (December) – Bill began writing the 12 Steps using Oxford Group principles & the idea of “plugging the holes an alcoholic might ‘riggle’ through”

1939 (January) – Dr. Bob states in a letter to Ruth Hock that AA had to “get away from the Oxford Group atmosphere”

1939 (February) – Dr. Harry Tiebout became first psychiatrist to endorse AA & use AA principles in his practice

1939 (February) – 400 copies of the Bog Book’s “Original Manuscript” are sent to doctors, judges, psychiatrists & others for comment

1939 (February) – Noted theologian Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, church minister in Riverside NY, favorably reviews the Big Book

1939 (February) – A Montclair NJ psychiatrist (Dr. Howard) suggests swapping the “you musts” in the Big Book for “we ought”

1939 (April 10) – “Alcoholics Anonymous”, AA’s Big Book, is published

1939 (April) – Bank forecloses on Bill & Lois’s home. They stay with Hank P. in Montclair NJ, the 1st of over 50 moves before they buy a home in 1941

1939 (May) – Clarence S. of Cleveland OH tells Dr. Bob, his sponsor, he won’t be back to Oxford Group meetings in Akron & will start “AA” meetings in Cleveland

1939 (Summer) – Midwest members break away from the Oxford Group

1939 (June) – The New York Times favorably reviews the Big Book

1939 (June) – Morgan R. appears on Gabriel Heatter’s national radio program. Before the show, Morgan was kept under round-the-clock surveillance to make sure he didn’t get drunk

1939 (June) – AA work spreads from Towns Hospital to asylums in Greystone NJ & Rockland NY

1939 (June) – New York Times reviewer writes the Big Book is “more soundly based psychologically than any other treatment I have ever come upon”

1939 (June) – Lois leaves by bus for Akron OH on her week’s vacation to stay with Dr. Bob & Anne & to discover what Bill’s excitement is all about

1939 (June) – Dr.Harry Emerson Fosdick favorably reviews the Big Book

1939 (July) – AA meeting starts in Harold S.’s home in Flatbush NY

1939 (July) – Blythewood Sanitarium psychiatrist Harry M. Tiebout gives a Big Book to Marty M. who promptly throws it at him

1939 (August) – Dr. Bob & Sister Ignatia admit the 1st of more than 5,000 drunks they will treat (over the next 10 years) at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron OH

1939 (August) – Dr. Silkworth & five other M.D.’s attend AA meeting at Bob & Meg V.’s home in Montclair NJ

1939 (September) – The 1st AA group in Chicago IL was founded

1939 (September) – Liberty magazine runs “Alcoholics And God,” an article on AA by Morris Markey. Bill W. predicts the blast from Liberty will stir things up

1939 (October) – Bill & Lois & the Sunday meetings move back to Green Pond NJ

1939 (October) – AA meeting starts at the Community House in South Orange NJ

1939 (November) – Bill & Lois visit Cleveland group founder Clarence S.

1939 (November) – NY AA’s urge Bill W. to stay on as fellowship leader & not to hunt for a job, despite his money problems

1939 (November) – Cleveland (OH.) Plain Dealer runs 1st of a series of articles on AA by Eldrick B. Davis which inaugurates “mass production” sobriety there, soon Cleveland has many more members than anywhere in the country

1939 (November) – Hank P. writes Bill W. advocating autonomy for all AA groups

1939 (December) – Bill W. leaves NY to visit AA groups in Akron, Detroit & Cleveland

1939 (December) – Bert the tailor lends $1,000 to Works Publishing Co.

1940 (January) – First AA group founded in Detroit, MI

1940 (January) – The first AA meeting not in a home begins at King School, Akron, OH

1940 (February) – Bill W. & seven other AA’s ask 60 rich friends of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for money at a dinner at the Union Club in NY. They receive $2,200 (all of which was paid back)

1940 (February) – Houston Press runs first of six anonymous articles on AA by Larry J.

1940 (February) – The 1st clubhouse for AA’s opened at 334 ½ West 24th Street in NYC

1940 (February) – Jim B. moves to Philadelphia PA and starts first Philly AA group (which first met on 2/28/40 chaired by Jim B. & held in George S.’s home). His story “The Vicious Cycle” is in the Big Book

1940 (March) – Bill & Lois visit the Philadelphia AA group

1940 (March) – Ebby, Bill’s boyhood friend & sponsor, is reported sober again

1940 (March) – Bill W. moves the Alcoholic Foundation (which later became GSO) office from 17-19 William St., Newark NJ, to 30 Vesey St., NYC

1940 (March) – Pat C. in California gets sober just by reading the Big Book

1940 (April) – Larry J. of Houston TX writes “The Texas Prayer” to open AA meetings in Texas

1940 (April) – The 1st 10 copies of the Big Book arrive in the AA office in Newark NJ. Cornwall Press printed 4,650 copies of it

1940 (April) – Bill & Lois attend growing Philadelphia PA AA meeting, with 42 showing up

1940 (April) – 1st AA group in Arkansas is formed in Little Rock

1940 (April) – Bill W. & Hank P. transfer their Works Publishing Co. stock to the Alcoholic Foundation

1940 (April) – Dr. Bob writes Trustees to refuse Big Book royalties, but Bill W. insists on them for Dr. Bob & Anne

1940 (April) – First AA pamphlet, titled “AA”, is published

1940 (May) – Washington D.C. Sunday Star reports founding of 1st AA group in the nations capitol, meeting every Tuesday night

1940 (June) – 1st AA group meets in Richmond VA

1940 (June) – 100 AA’s attend 1st meeting at the 1st AA clubhouse “open every day” at 334 ½ West 24th St. in NY

1940 (Mid-June) – Some San Quentin prisoners read the Big Book, decide that they’re alcoholics & form AA’s 1st prison group

1940 (June) – Baltimore MD 1st AA group starts

1940 (July) – Fort Worth press publishes an anonymous letter from a founding member of Texas AA group

1940 (July) – The 1st AA groups are founded in Dayton OH & Richmond VA

1940 (July) – Richmond Times Dispatch reports AA weekly meetings will begin in September

1940 (July) – Philadelphia PA AA group sends 10% of its money to the Alcoholic Foundation (which later became GSO) & sets a precedent for the 7th Tradition

1940 (September) – The “Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease” reviewed the Big Book & said “of the inner meaning of alcoholism there is hardly a word”

1940 (September) – The AA Bulletin found nine “secure” groups in NYC, Washington D.C., Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Akron & Cleveland

1940 (September) – Bill W. makes a 12th Step call on Bobbie V., who later replaces Ruth Hock as the NY office secretary

1940 (October) – Denver CO uses the Serenity Prayer & meditation to open their meetings

1940 (November) – 1st Minneapolis MN AA group was formed

1940 (November) – 1st meeting is held in Boston MA

1940 (November) – Alcoholic Foundation (which later became GSO) publishes the 1st “AA Bulletin”

1940 (December) – Chicago Daily Tribune begins four article series on AA by Nall Hamilton

1940 (December) – St. Louis MO AA group is founded

1941 (January) – Jack Alexander tells Bill W. the Oxford Group will be in his Saturday Evening Post article on AA

1941 (January) – AA Bulletin No.2 reports St. Louis Group has 10 members

1941 (February) – Pittsburgh Telegraph runs a story on 1st AA group’s Friday night meeting of a dozen “former hopeless drunks”

1941 (February) – Baltimore Sunday Sun reports Baltimore’s 1st AA group (begun in June 1940) has grown from 3 to 40 members

1941 (February) – The Toledo Blade publishes 1st of three articles on AA by Seymour Rothman

1941 (March) – Saturday Evening Post article on AA by Jack Alexander creates national sensation; AA membership will quadruple in one year from 2,000 to 8,000

1941 (March) – Boston newspaper reports “any drunk who wants to get well is more than welcome” at the AA meeting at 115 Newbury St. at 8 p.m. Wednesday

1941 (March) – Wichita Beacon reports arrival of New York AA’er who wants to start a Wichita AA group

1941 (March) – New Haven CT. AA group is formed

1941 (March) – Cleveland forms the Fellowship’s 1st AA women’s & also 1st black women’s group

1941 (April) – 1st Florida AA meeting is held

1941 (April) – Ruth Hock reports 1,600 letters arrived since the Saturday Evening Post article on AA by Jack Alexander appeared in March

1941 (April) – 1st AA group in Washington State is started in Seattle

1941 (April) – Bill & Lois buy Stepping Stones, their home in Bedford Hills NY

1941 (May) – 1st Wisconsin AA meeting was held in a Milwaukee Hotel

1941 (May) – Jacksonville FL newspaper reports start of a new AA group

1941 (June) – St. Paul MN AA group is founded

1941 (June) – Kalamazoo MI AA group is founded with 3 members; a year later there will be 35 sober

1941 (June) – Kansas City press reports local Friday AA group is composed of “one time stew bums, bar flies & plain drunkards

1941 (June) – Ruth Hock tells Bill about “Serenity Prayer” a NY AA’er discovered. AA adopts the prayer

1941 (August) – Bill writes to Dr. Bob to report that Works Publishing Co. has been incorporated

1941 (August) – Cincinnati OH AA group has 60 members at its six-month anniversary party

1941 (August) – Los Angeles Daily News reports on AA picnic held at Griffith Park Zoo. AA’s were invited to “come and see some real elephants”

1941 (August) – 1st AA meeting in Colorado is held in Denver

1941 (September) – WHJP in Jacksonville FL airs “Spotlight on AA,” the 1st radio series on AA

1941 (October) – 1st New Haven CT AA group begins

1941 (October) – AA #3, Bill D., & 900 other AA’s attend Testimonial Dinner at Hotel Seiberling in Cleveland

1941 (October) – White Plains NY Reporter Dispatch writes on Eastview AA’s work in Westchester prison

1941 (November) – Oklahoma City OK news reported “1st mass meeting here of seven guys at Ramsey Tower Friday. An eighth man was roaring drunk”

1941 (November) – Fresno (CA.) Bee reports 28 newcomers asked for help in the local AA group’s 1st week

1941 (November) – Columbus OH press reports 25 active members in local AA Friday night group

1941 (December) – The Dallas Morning News reports formation of the 1st AA group in Dallas

1942 (February) – Bill W. pays tribute to Ruth Hock, AA’s 1st paid secretary who had resigned to get married. Ruth signed 15,000 letters to alcoholics who wrote the NY AA office asking for help

1942 (March) – South Orange NJ AA holds anniversary dinner at Hotel Suburban with Bill W. as guest speaker

1942 (April) – Windsor Daily Star in Ontario, Canada, reports over 40 AA’s attend a testimonial dinner in Detroit for Dr. Bob, AA’s co-founder

1942 (May) – Bill W. tells Connecticut society for Mental Hygiene that AA has 6,000 members in 180 groups

1942 (May) – The Journal-Herald in Dayton OH runs a huge story on AA, with photos of members in Halloween masks to protect their anonymity

1942 (June) – New York AA groups sponsor first annual meeting. 424 attend. Speakers are Rev. Vincent Donovan, Dr. Silkworth, & Alcoholic Foundation (which later became GSO) Treasurer W.S. Richardson

1942 (June) – Columnist Earl Wilson reports NYC police commissioner Valentine sent 6 cops to AA, and now they are sober. Valentine credits AA with the fact “there are fewer suicides in my files.”

1942 (June) – Cleveland OH’s AA “Central Bulletin” reports a new 24 hour service number in the telephone directory

1942 (September) – U.S. Assitant Surgeon General Kolb speaks at a dinner for Bill & Dr. Bob in Philadelphia

1942 (October) – Chicago Herald American reported on AA group’s 3rd Anniversary with 500 attending

1942 (October) – The 1st issue of Cleveland AA’s “The Central Bulletin” is published

1943 (January) – Columbus Dispatch reports 1st Anniversary of Central Ohio AA group

1943 (January) – Canadian newspaper reports 8 men meet in at “Little Denmark”, a Toronto restaurant, to discuss starting Canada’s first AA group

1943 (January) – Washington Star reports 300 attend the Capitals 1st AA banquet

1943 (February) – During World War II gasoline rationing, the U.S. Gov’t. recognizes the “importance of AA work” & grants AA the right to use cars for 12th Step work in emergency cases

1943 (February) – San Francisco CA Bulletin reporter Marsh Maslin interviews Ricardo, a San Quentin Prison AA group member

1943 (March) – Charleston Mail (W.V.) reports Bill W.’s talk at St. John’s Parish house

1943 (March) – Queens AA group celebrates 2nd anniversary with dinner at Forest Hills Inn attended by 100 AA

1943 (May) – New Orleans Times reports founding of 1st Louisiana AA group with a dozen members

1943 (May) – In the early days of AA, the Fellowship sought & received more publicity than today. The Sacramento Union newspaper reported “50% of AA ‘cures’ take effect immediately & are permanent.”

1943 (May) – Democrat Chronicle in Rochester NY reports 1st annual AA dinner at Seneca Hotel with 60 attending

1943 (May) – Akron OH AA group celebrates 8th anniversary with 500 attending

1943 (July) – 1st summer session of Yale Univ. School of Alcohol Studies begins with Bill W. & six other AA’s attending

1943 (July) – New Haven Register (Conn.) reports arrival of AA’s to study with E.M. Jellinek (“Jellinek’s Curve”)

1943 (July) – Los Angeles press reports on formation of an all Mexican group of AA

1943 (August) – Washington Times Herald, D.C., reported on AA Clubhouse but no address to protect members anonymity

1943 (August) – Hamburg Patriot (PA.) runs a story on the anniversary of the local AA group

1943 (August) – Los Angeles Times reported on AA picnic at Sycamore Grove, 400 Southern California AA’s attend. Los Angeles had 11 groups with 1,000 AA’ers

1943 (August) – Quincy Patriot (MA.) runs a story on donation of a Big Book to the local public library by the South Shore AA group

1943 (September) – Tuscon AZ Star reported an AA group with eight men & 3 women

1943 (October) – Toledo Ohio Blade reported 200 at Clubhouse anniversary

1943 (October) – Des Moines Iowa Tribune reported AA’s from Chicago IL visited to organize AA group

1943 (November) – Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick is the speaker at the Manhattan AA group’s eighth anniversary. He had given AA the 1st positive review of the Big Book

1943 (November) – NY AA celebrates ninth anniversary with a dinner attended by 800. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale is the guest speaker

1943 (November) – Los Angeles Times prints story on the 1st open AA meeting at the local VA hospital

1943 (November) – San Francisco Examiner quotes “Mrs. Bill’s” opinion “women AA’s are more difficult than men…more crafty & subtle”

1943 (December) – San Quentin News reports “Mr. Bill” speaks to 300 inmates at their AA meeting

1944 (March) – The NY Intergroup is established

1944 (June) – First issue of the AA Grapevine is published

1944 (September) – “The Empty Jug” an early AA newsletter) starts in Chattanooga TN

1944 (October) – The Nat’l. Committee for Education on Alcoholism, later known as NCA, opens its NYC office

1944 (December) – Australia was the 1st country outside of North America to have AA

1945 (February 5) – Time Magazine reported Detroit’s WWJ radio station’s pioneer broadcasts by AA’ers, 1st such radio program in U.S.

1945 (June) – Cleveland Press reports 2,500 attend 10th AA Anniversary Shindig. Cleveland OH has 44 of 500 AA groups and 1,200 of the nations 20,000 AA’ers

1945 (October) – The AA Grapevine was adopted as nat’l. publication of AA with 3,000 subscribers

1946 (March) –“The March of Time” a documentary on AA is filmed by NY AA office

1946 (September) – The 1st AA group in Mexico City was formed

1946 (November) – An AA intergroup office demands an accounting of all Alcoholic Foundation money

1947 (March) – Nell Wing, Bill’s secretary & founding archivist of AA Archives, starts work at Alcoholic Foundation Office (AA)

1947 (March) – Calix Society was founded in Minneapolis by five recovering Catholic alcoholics, AA members

1947 (March) – 1st AA group is formed in London, England

1947 (November) – Anchorage has 1st Alaskan AA group

1949 (June 1) – Anne S., wife of Dr. Bob, died

1949 (June) – Captain Jack S. along with others, create an AA Seaman’s Club in NYC

1949 (July) – William D. Silkworth, M.D. writes the 1st medical journal article in the “Lancet”

1949 (July) – The comic strip “Wash Tubs” was running the AA story

1949 (August) – Int’l. Doctors in AA is founded in the garage of Dr. Clarence P. in Clayton NY with 10 Doctors (3 Canadians & a psychologist among them)

1949 (September) – 1st issue of the AA Grapevine in pocketbook format is published

1949 (October) – NY areas 1st female AA member Florence R. is drinking again. She does not recover & eventually commits suicide

1949 (November) – Bill W. suggests AA groups everywhere to devote Thanksgiving week to discussions of the Twelve Traditions

1949 (December) – Sister Ignatia accepts Poverello Medal of St. Francis on behalf of Aa from the College of Steubenville OH

1949 (Christmas Day) – Dr. Bob’s last visit to St. Thomas Hospital’s alcoholic ward where he helped thousands of drunks

1950 (May) – Shortly before his death, Dr. Bob tells Bill, “I reckon we ought to be buried like other folks.”

1950 (May) – Nell Wing becomes Bill W.’s secretary, & AA’s 1st archivist

1950 (July) – 1st AA convention begins in Cleveland OH. 12 Traditions are adopted. In his farewell talk, Dr. Bob says about co-founding AA: “possibly some small thing I did a number of years ago”

1950 (November 16) – Dr. Bob Smith AA co-founder, dies

1950 (December) – Paramount Pictures changed the name of its movie “Mr. & Mrs. Anonymous” to “Something to Live For” at AA’s request. Released in 1945, it “dealt with the wonderful work being done by AA”

1951 (March 22) – William Duncan Silkworth, M.D., died at NY Towns Hospital. “Silky” treated Bill W. & countless other drunks

1951 (April) – AA’s 1st General Service Conference is held, linking AA’s General Service Board Trustees with the entire Fellowship

1951 (May) – Al-Anon is founded

1951 (October) – The Lasker Award was given to AA by the American Public Health Assn. In San Francisco

1952 (January) – The AA Grapevine publishes its memorial issue on Dr. Bob

1952 (November) – Rev. Willard S. Richardson dies. He was AA’s connection to the Rockefeller Foundation

1954 (January) – Hank P., early AA’er who helped Bill start the NY office, died in Pennington NJ

1954 (September) – Bill D. (AA #4) dies

1955 (April) – “The Circle-In-The-Triangle” AA symbol was approved by the General Service Conference. The symbol was then dropped in 1994

1955 (July 1-3) – Legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service are turned over to the Fellowship of AA at large by its old-timers at the 20th Int’l. AA Convention in St. Louis MO

1955 (August) – Bill W.’s long depression lifts after he turns the “Fellowship over to the Fellowship” at the St. Louis Int’l. Convention

1956 (May) – The 1st English AA convention was held in Cheltenham, England

1957 (October) –The book “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” is published

1958 (April) – The word “honest” was dropped from the AA Preamble’s “an honest desire to stop drinking”

1958 (August) – The book “Twenty-Four Hours A Day” is written by Richard W. Besides the Big Book, it’s the #2 best seller

1958 (October) – Playhouse 90 TV aired “The Days of Wine and Roses” (a movie about alcoholism)

1958 (November) – 1st Int’l. Conf. Of Young People in AA was held at Niagra Falls NY

1959 (February) – AA granted permission to “Recording For Te Blind” to tape the Big Book

1959 (November) – The Big Book was translated for Africans in South Africa by Andries K. This was the
1st translation of the Big Book into another language

1960 (April) – Bill W. refuses the cover of Time Magazine in order to preserve AA’s Anonymity Tradition

1960 (July) – Ft. Ed Dowling, Bill W.’s “spiritual sponsor”, dies

1960 (July) – 7,000 attend 25th Anniv. AA convention in Long Beach CA

1961 (January) – Dr. Carl Jung answers Bill W.’s letter with “Spiritus Contra Spiritum”

1962 (May) – The AA Grapevine published the 1st “Victor E.” cartoon

1963 (October) – E.M. Jellinek, alcoholism researcher, educator, & long time friend of AA, dies

1965 (July) – Al S. writes the “Responsibility Pledge” & a crowd of 10,000 at the Toronto Int’l. Convention take it together for the 1st time

1965 (July) – Frank Amos, one of the “Rockefeller People” & one of AA’s 1st trustees, dies

1966 (March) – Ebby T. dies sober

1966 (November) – U.S. President Johnson appointed Marty M. to the 1st Nat’l. Advisory Commission on Alcoholism

1966 (December) – Ebby T, the man who really made the 1st 12th Step call, dies. The newspaper obituary contains no mention of AA

1967 (February) – Father John Doe (a.k.a. Fr. Ralph Pfau), the 1st Catholic priest to join AA, dies

1970 (October) – Lois reads “Bill’s Last Message” at the Bill W. Dinner

1971 (January 24) – Bill W. dies in Miami FL

1971 (January) – The New York Times publishes Bill Wilson’s obituary on page one

1971 (May) – Bill W. is buried in small private ceremony in East Dorset VT. Dr. John Morris, AA GSB Chairman, gives the eulogy

1971 (September 22-25) – Over 500 attend the 1st European Convention of AA in Bristol, England

1973 (April) – Dr. Jack Norris, Chairman of the AA General Service Board, presents the one millionth copy of the Big Book to President Richard Nixon at a White House ceremony

1973 (September) – AA Archives is established at the GSO in NY

1974 (May) – The 1st World Service Meeting of AA outside of America is held in London, England

1975 (September) – Jack Alexander, author of the Saturday Evening Post articles on AA, dies

1975 (November) – General Service Board officially opens the GSO AA Archives with ribbon cutting ceremony

1975 (December) – The AA special interest group for Airline Pilots (“Birds of a Feather”) was founded

1975 (December) – Akron Beacon Journal reported death of Henrietta Seiberling

1979 (July) – Ernie Kurtz’s AA history book “Not God” is published

1980 (May) –“Dr. Bob and the Good Old-Timers”, AAWS biography of AA’s cofounder & a history of early Midwest AA, is published

1980 (July) – Gay AA members have their own meeting at the New Orleans Convention for the 1st time

1980 (July) – Marty M., early AA woman & founder of the Nat’l. Council on Alcoholism, dies

1981 (August) – Sales of the Big Book passed three million

1981 (June) – Switzerland AA celebrates its 25th Anniversary, Lois W. & Nell Wing attend

1982 (December) – Nell Wing, Bill W.’s secretary & AA’s 1st archivist, “retires” but continues as an Ambassador-At-Large for AA & a passionate advocate for AA history

1983 (November) – Lois attends Desert Roundup AA Convention in CA. Her days as a “motorcycle hobo” gets her an honorary membership in an AA motorcycle club

1984 (March) – Clarence S., founder of Cleveland OH AA, died at age 81

1985 (July) – 50th Anniv. AA Int’l. Convention & Al-Anon’s 1st Int’l. Convention in Montreal. Ruth Hock is given the five millionth copy of the Big Book

1985 (December) – Dave B., founder of the Montreal group, dies a few weeks before the 50th AA Anniv. Int’l. Convention in Montreal, Canada

1988 (January) – West Virginia AA begins 1st statewide toll-free telephone hotline

1988 (January) – John L. Norris M.D., non-alcoholic member of the AA General Service Board dies. 1st former Chairman, Trustee, Trustee Emeritus. “Our beloved Dr. Jack”

1988 (August) – 1st Canadian Nat’l. AA Convention held in Halifax, Nova Scotia

1988 (October) – Lois W., widow of Bill W. & co-founder of Al-Anon, dies at the age of 97. An informal Quaker-style memorial service is held for Lois at Stepping Stones in Bedford Hills NY with 50 family & friends attending. Lois is buried next to Bill in East Dorset VT

1989 (April) – Dr. Leonard Strong, Bill W.’s brother-in-law and early supporter of AA, dies

1989 (April) –“My Name is Bill W.”, a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation on ABC TV was broadcast at9 p.m.

1990 (July) – 55th Anniv. AA Int’l. Convention in Seattle WA gives Nell Wing the 10 millionth copy of the Big Book

1993 (July) – Canadian AA’s 50th Anniv. Convention

1994 (October) – The Nat’l. Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence has its 50th Anniversary with a dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, D.C.

1995 (July) – 60th Anniv. AA Int’l. Convention in San Diego CA

1995 (December) – The new AA Archives is dedicated in Akron OH. These are presently housed in the Akron Intergroup Office

2000 (July) – 65th Anniv. AA Int’l. Convention in Minneapolis MN

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