August 25 in A.A. History

In 1926, Bill W., “in high glee, all dressed up in his neatly pressed old suit,” went “to interview the president of the American Writing Paper Co.” [right: American Writing Paper Co. cylinder machine in Holyoke, Massachusetts, 1936-7] . 

     He and Frank Shaw, the only Wall Street friend still interested in financing Bill’s valuation services, had developed a strong interest in the company, which was then in receivership. The day before, Bill and Lois had ridden their motorcycle [left: Lois on the Harley, 1925] to Holyoke, where the company’s headquarters and 13 of its 23 original rag paper mills were located. They set up camp and had Bill’s suit pressed. In a note added to her Diary of Two Motorcycle Hobos in 1973, Lois wrote:

     Upon our return from Holyoke, Frank was so pleased with Bill’s report on the American Writing Paper Co. That [sic] he gave Bill a regular weekly salary of $50 [~$890 in 2024], as well as options on stock. This permitted us to feel secure enough financially to buy a second-hand car, in which it would be much easier to make the extended trips for Bill’s work. So in early October we left Brooklyn for Vermont and parts north, in our new-to-us 1924 Dodge [right: 1924 Dodge touring car], for which we paid $250 [~$4,440 in 2024]

	In 1934, Edwin “Ebby” T. [left] appeared in court for shooting pigeons with a shotgun [right], believing the birds would ruin the new paint job on his house [below left: Dunean House, 110 Taconic Rd, Manchester, Vermont]. Judge Collins Millard Graves [below right] sent him home for the weekend, ordering him to return to court on Monday, and warning him to arrive sober.
		Back at home, Ebby had 3 or 4 bottles of his favorite beer, Ballantine’s Ale, waiting for him in a cool cellar. Something unexpected happened when he got there:

    So down I went [into the cellar], and I reached for a bottle of ale, and I couldn’t take it. I had said I would be there sober, and this wouldn’t exactly be sobriety. I went upstairs and this voice said, “Oh, don’t be silly. Go down and get that ale. My God, you’re shaking. Go on down and get it.” Well, I couldn’t do it. It wasn,t playing the game square, the way I looked at it. And when I finally made the decision not to touch it and took it over to a friend of mine, three or four houses away, I felt right then a great release from the whole thing. And that lasted for me for over two years. That was the start of the whole release from the problem for the time being.

    This marked the beginning of Ebby’s first sustained period of sobriety, which lasted long enough for him to introduce Bill W. to certain new ideas about getting and staying sober.

	Around the same time, during a visit to Rowland Hazard [left, 1921] in Bennington, Vermont, Cebra Graves [right], son of Judge Graves, learned that Ebby was facing criminal charges and the possibility of commitment to the Brattleboro Retreat (formerly the Vermont Asylum for the Insane) [below right] due to his drinking problem.
Cebra and Rowland decided to take on Ebby as a “a project.” They attended Ebby’s trial and persuaded Judge Graves to release Ebby into their custody. That fall, despite having just met him, Rowland took Ebby to New York City, where he had sobered up with the help of the Oxford Group at Calvary Mission.

In 1936, upon returning from the Olympic Games in Germany, where he had met with Himmler, Frank Buchman [left, Jan 1936], founder of the Oxford Group (OG), held a press conference at Calvary House.

    While nearly all the journalists sent out routine stories, William A. H. Birnie, a reporter for the afternoon paper New York World-Telegram [right: front page, 5 Aug 1936], arrived late and requested a special interview. In the presence of several colleagues, in the room, Buchman answered the reporter’s questions.

      At the time, it seemed inconsequential, but this encounter would soon lead to a public relations disaster for the OG.

August 24 in A.A. History

In 1948, in the early morning hours, police raided the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) Club in Springfield, Missouri. Seven members were arrested, tried, and convicted for gambling, even though the bets were limited to just 10 cents. The police deemed the activity illegal, resulting in front-page newspaper coverage that same day [right: Springfield Leader and Press story, pp. 1, 6].

In 2020, Clancy I. [left], 93, died of an undetermined cause while in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, according to his daughter, Mary I. Dougherty. He was undergoing rehabilitation for a broken hip and was nearing the end of his isolation period when the rehabilitation center informed her of his passing.

    Clancy had served as the director of the Midnight Mission [right (recent)] in Los Angeles for 46 years and was a sponsor to thousands. With a sobriety date of 31 October 1958, he had over 61 years of continuous sobriety. He left a very successful career at a Beverly Hills marketing firm to become the managing director of the Midnight Mission on Skid Row. Thus, he returned as a transformative leader to an institution that had previously expelled him for bad behavior. Under his leadership, the soup kitchen and residential facilities expanded, implementing programs to address the social needs of the Skid Row community.

August 23 in A.A. History

In 1895, Junius C. Jr. [right: at the U.S. Naval Academy, c. 1915] was born in McComb, Mississippi, to Junius Sr. and Thomasine C. He was the middle child among three surviving sons. Tragically, his father died when Junius was just two years old. His older brother, Joe, had died at the age of 11 months in 1889, six years before Junius's birth.
    Later in life, Junius would become a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1940, the Berea Group was started [on August 27, according to How It Worked] at the home of Bob J. near Cleveland, Ohio. It branched off from the Lakewood Group and initially had eight members. Soon after, it would relocate to the St. Thomas Episcopal Church [left, with Ogilvy Chapel to its right] Parish Hall in Berea, Ohio.
    By the end of its first year, the group had grown to thirty members. An announcement in the August 1943 issue of the Central Bulletin provided details about the group and its meeting location:

    This group is noted for its friendliness and hospitality.… Berea has most unusual quarters. It meets in the delightfully simple rooms of the Parish Hall of St. Thomas’ which is itself a tiny jewel of a church on the very edge of the Baldwin-Wallace campus. The tall elms and maples, the broad stretches of lawn, the quiet of this charming village plus the dignity and serenity of the church all lend an air of peace and rest to these pleasant meetings. Any of you who have ever attended a Berea meeting will never forget it.

August 22 in A.A. History

In 1945, the first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) meeting in Scotland took place. This event was highlighted in an article [right, highlighted] titled “Alcoholics Anonymous Come to Scotland” published by Scotland’s The Sunday Mail:     Six men who met in a Church vestry in Perth this week-end made Scottish history—when they formed the first Scots branch of Alcoholics Anonymous.     Most unorthodox movement in the world—in began in America—Alcoholics Anonymous has as its only members people who are addicted to alcohol.     They set out as drunkards to help cure one another, to the extent of being prepared at a moment’s notice to go out at any time of the day or night to help a “brother” in distress.
	The two most likely churches for this event are St. Matthew’s (West Church) [far left] or St. John’s Kirk [near left].

In 1985, Francis “Barry” L. Jr. [left: a middle-aged Barry], 66, died at his home in Manhattan. He would be buried [right: gravestone] in Weatherford, Texas, where he grew up.

    Barry earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and Journalism from Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth, Texas, where he taught those subjects for two years in the early 1940s. He later completed his doctorate at Yale University.
    In 1944, he relocated to New York City, where he got sober in 1945. He became one of the first openly gay members of Alcoholics Anonymous and played a crucial role in discussions about inclusivity within the organization, particularly concerning LGBTQ+ members. He was also involved in early efforts to establish special meetings for gay men in 1945.

Barry testified before the U.S. Congress and appeared on television to advocate for legislation addressing alcoholism. He authored Living Sober [left: 1st ed., 1st pr. cover] (1975) and the pamphlet “Do You Think You’re Different?” [right: cover of current printing] (1977), which included two stories by gay authors.

    Additionally, he co-authored Lois’s book Lois Remembers [right] and worked as a staff writer at the General Service Office (GSO) of A.A., where he recorded and wrote many of the early General Service Conference final reports. He also worked on the A.A. Grapevine staff. Barry retired from GSO 18 months before his death.

    He became a trusted friend of Bill and Lois Wilson, growing particularly close to Lois after Bill’s death in 1971. In 1978, Lois presented Barry with a copy of the original manuscript [left: 1st page of “How It Works”] of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. The following year, Barry signed a notarized letter gifting the manuscript to A.A. World Services, while retaining possession for the remainder of his life—a fact he discussed publicly shortly before his death in 1985.
    His final major public appearance was at the 8th International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous, celebrating its 50th anniversary in Montreal, Quebec, just a month prior to his death.

August 21 in A.A. History

In 1988, during the 1st Canadian National A.A. Convention at the Halifax Metro Centre—renamed Scotiabank Centre in 2014—in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a group of LGBTQ members met at the Sheraton Hotel. In 2011, Mike A., who attended the event, recounted the details of that meeting:

    In August, 1988 we had the first Canadian National AA Roundup [sic] which had nearly 5,000 people at one time in the Metro Center. People from all over the US and Canada (and perhaps other continents, not sure) came to this gathering.  Eyebrows were raised, eyes rolled when 3 people who got up to read Steps, Traditions, etc. said “Hello, my name is _____ and I am a GAY alcoholic.” The G Word caused a slight flap. One member, JJL[――] [right], met a number of friends of Bill W. and ‘Dorothy.’ He was tall and carrying a shoulder-bag, they couldn't miss him. Someone said, “There are an awful lot of ‘us’ here, perhaps we should have our own meeting!” A Flyer [sic] was typed up and put on notice boards and a member from Vancouver said we could have a meeting in his Suite (at the Sheraton, now called Marriott) which had a large meeting room.
    Twenty-seven people came to our meeting on Sunday afternoon. Surprise! We're everywhere! It was a most uplifting meeting, we were all impressed that so many nice people came on short notice. Several people said, “Hey! We could have our own Roundup!”
    Georgina C[――] and Leonard, Mike A’s partner, were surprised that they were nominated—right out of the blue—to be our first Co-Chairs. They accepted (relented?) and a date was set for October to have a meeting to discuss the possibilities.

    The outcome would be the Courage Roundup [left: logo], “an annual gathering of LGBT alcoholics and those affected by the alcoholism of others, that is, an LGBT Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon.”

August 20 in A.A. History

In 1940, Clarence and Dorothy S. [right] were divorced. They both had very strong personalities and were active members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

    Afterwards, Clarence wrote to Ruth Hock [left]:

    O Well, it is about in line with about everything else I hear about myself, including being engaged to seven different girls, secretly married to four, drunk and disorderly, married to an heiress and engaged to two others, and a wife beater. So what the hell. On the contrary, I am doing fine, officially single, sober (3 years) don’t ever expect to slip, don’t beat anyone’s wife, no heiress’ [sic] have proposed to me, but just going along. Have been fired out of out of the finance business and am now selling Fords… Have had a lot of interesting experiences in the past 3 years and have since listened to some screwy ideas. Which convinces me that all the nuts aren’t alkies... All in all it’s a great world.

    Dorothy wrote to Ruth also:

    Dear Sugar-Puss, Tell Bill that Prince Blue-Flame is getting a divorce from his “100% I Am” wife—said that a man needed a woman—I gather that spiritual mysticism wasn’t enough.

August 19 in A.A. History

In 1936, after attending the Olympic Games in Berlin, where he met Heinrich Himmler but failed to meet Adolf Hitler, Frank Buchman [right: in Miama, Florida (1936)] sailed for New York City.

In 1941, the first A.A. meeting in Denver, Colorado [left: aerial view of business district, 1920s], was held at the home of Sarah McP. and was attended by 11 people.

    This gathering followed the March 1941 publication of Jack Alexander’s article, “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others,” in The Saturday Evening Post. Inspired by the article, a Denver alcoholic named Venard F. traveled to Houston, Texas, to observe the local A.A. group's practices. He brought back a Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, along with some pamphlets. He then published an article in a local newspaper, including his P.O. Box number. It is likely that the attendees at the first meeting were from among those who had responded to Venard’s article.

In 1941, the Finance Committee of the Central Group Committee held a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. The minutes suggested that

    … the representatives of the groups that they in turn propose to their respective group that they deposit with the Finance Committee the Sum of one dollar each week beginning January 1st 1942.

The minutes continued by stating that…

    Such funds are to be used for the purpose of defraying normal expenses of the Central Committee Group such as P.O. box rental, postage and such other incidental expenses as may be required… [And to] make contributions to the [Alcoholic] Foundation in New York and such other charities as may be recommended to the finance committee by the various groups and approved by the finance committee.

In 1981, the United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a special 18¢ [~64¢ in 2025] stamp [right], featuring the message, “Alcoholism/You Can Beat It!” Nearly 100 million (97,535,000) of these stamps were printed. Some mistakenly claimed that this was a slogan used by Alcoholics Anonymous. The stamp generated controversy, as many worried that recipients might

    that recipients might interpret the message as a suggestion that the sender was questioning their drinking habits. This public reluctance to use the stamp highlighted the deep-seated stigma surrounding addiction.

    At that time, the cost of sending a first-class letter weighing no more than 1 oz [~28⅓ g] was 18¢, although this price would increase to 20¢ just 74 days later. Today, a mint condition version of this stamp sells for about 85¢.

August 18 in A.A. History

In 1938, the second meeting of the Alcoholic Foundation Board took place in the office of A. LeRoy Chipman [left] at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. During this meeting, the board decided to transfer the remaining $2,150 [~$49,000 in 2025] from the fund established by Rockefeller to the Alcoholic Foundation to support A.A. efforts in Akron. Additionally, they agreed to provide Dr. Bob S. [right] with $200 [~$4,600 in 2025] per month from September 1938 to April 1939.

Today in A.A. History—August 18–21

In 1988, around 5,000 people attended the 1st Canadian National Alcoholics Anonymous Convention at the Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia [right: aerial view from the east, c. early 1980s]. In 2014, the facility was renamed the Scotiabank Centre.

August in A.A. History—day unknown

In 1919, Bill and Lois W. set off on a month-long walking tour, covering several hundred miles from Portland, Maine, through New Hampshire, to Rutland, Vermont. Lois encouraged this journey to give them time to think and to help Bill get off the booze.
    After leaving the Army, Bill struggled to adjust to civilian life, where drinking was typically reserved for evenings and weekends and moderation was expected. He faced the challenge of finding a job that required him to do the same thing during the same hours at the same time in the same place every day. He decoded cablegrams [below left: coded cablegram, 1917] for an exporter, clerked [below center: office workers, 1920] in the insurance department of the New York Central Railroad for Lois’s sister Barbara’s fiancé, and later worked for the railroad again, driving spikes [below right: pier construction] into planks on a pier. None of these jobs lasted long; he either quit or was fired from each job. 
    To calm his nerves and to escape into dreams of glory, Bill increasingly turned to alcohol, as he had done in the Army. However, now feeling sorry for himself, he also drank to nurse his resentments, often pushing himself to drink until closing time, which sometimes led to vomiting and blackouts.

 

In 1937, Bill and Lois W. [right] and other members of their small band of recovering alcoholics stopped attending meetings of the Oxford Group (OG) in New York City. 

    OG members had criticized Bill for working only with alcoholics, describing both Bill and Lois as “not maximum”—the ultimate OG put-down—and leaders had forbidden alcoholics staying at Calvary Rescue Mission from attending “drunk squad” meetings at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn. This happened while Sam Shoemaker [left] was on vacation.

    Similarly, in Akron, Ohio, OG members who were not part of the “alcoholic squadron” criticized OG meetings led by T. Henry and Clarace Williams [right] for focusing too much on helping alcoholics. This marked the beginning of A.A.’s separation from outside affiliation and laid the groundwork for Tradition Six. Nevertheless, the Akron “alcoholic squadron” would remain affiliated with the OG for more than two years. 

 

 

In 1939, Herbert “Bert” T. [left], a member of A.A. in New York City, pledged his fashionable 5th Ave. tailor shop—already heavily mortgaged due to his drinking—as collateral for a $1,000 [~$23,000 in 2025] loan to Works Publishing.
    Bill W. was desperate to keep the business afloat until the article “Alcoholics and God,” edited by Fulton Oursler, was published in Liberty magazine. To secure the funds, Bert reached out to a wealthy client, a Mr. Cochran, in Baltimore, Maryland, who was sympathetic to A.A. Bert explained the situation and requested a loan. Cochran hesitated. When Bert suggested that he buy stock in Works Publishing, Cochran expressed even more doubt and, after reviewing the balance sheet, declined the offer. Finally, Bert proposed co-signing a loan, which Cochran enthusiastically accepted. 

    Bill later wrote, “This probably saved the book company.” The magazine article would be published on September 30 [right: magazine cover]; it would generate 800 inquiries and result in sufficient book sales to sustain Works Publishing through 1939. Unfortunately, Bert’s tailor shop would go broke within a year or two.[Some sources date this loan to December 6, but that date makes no sense.] 

August 16 in A.A. History

In 1939 [Aug 18?], Dr. Robert “Bob” S. [right] and Sister Ignatia [left] (née Bridget Della Mary Gavin) facilitated the first admission of an alcoholic to St. Thomas Hospital [below right] in Akron, Ohio, using Dr. Bob’s diagnostic guise of “acute gastritis.”

     At that time, alcoholism was viewed as a moral failing rather than a disease, leading hospitals to generally deny admission to alcoholics due to a policy of “not treating drunks.” In fact, Sister Ignatia later vividly recalled a day when she had come…

    … to the [hospital’s] Chapel for prayer shortly after five one morning, only to be met by the night supervisor, who told me in unmistakable terms that the next time I admitted a D.T. [delirium tremens case] to the hospital, I had better stay up all night and run around the corridors after him.

    The first patient admitted was Walter B. “a notorious alcoholic and a regular consumer of paregoric.” His story, “The Back-Slider,” would later appear in the first edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, as would that of his non-alcoholic wife, Marie, titled “An Alcoholic’s Wife.”
    This marked the beginning of the partnership between Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia at St. Thomas, which became the first religious institution to welcome Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). It would eventually have an entire wing dedicated to the treatment of alcoholism. Sister Ignatia later said, “I was pretty well governed by whatever Doctor said as to the length of the stay and type of treatment.” Dr. Bob, however, could never remember the hospital's policy, nor did he ever ask. Before his death in 1950, he and Sister Ignatia had cared for 4,800 alcoholics. A similar arrangement was made by the New York City group with Knickerbocker Hospital, but not until 1945.
    Initially, Sister Ignatia had no idea that Dr. Bob was a recovering alcoholic himself. However, he would later disclose his own past problems with alcohol and his recent recovery.

In 1987, Russian alcoholics established “Московские Начинающие” (Moscow Beginners), the first official Alcoholics Anonymous group in Russia [left: Moscow, 1987].

August 15 in A.A. History

In 1890, Elvin Morton “Bunky” Jellinek [right, 1920s] was born in New York City to a Hungarian father, Markus Erwin Marcel Jellinek, a merchant and descendant of the notable Jellinek family of Budapest, and an American mother, Rose Jacobson, best known as the opera singer Marcella Lindh.
    When he was five, his family relocated to Hungary, where he attended elementary and high school in Budapest, graduating with honors in 1908. He attended—it is unclear whether he enrolled—universities in various cities, including Leipzig, Berlin, and Grenoble, focusing on philosophy, ethnography, psychoanalysis, and cultural anthropology. However, it appears he never received a degree or doctorate, only honorary appointments.

    His time in Hungary ended under dramatic circumstances, marked by an arrest warrant issued in four languages. Although the details are unclear, reports suggested he embezzled half a billion koronas (crowns) [left: 1,000 kr note, 1920], which today would be about $1.3 million US. He was forced to leave the country in 1920, and sensational newspaper articles were published about him, with the arrest warrant remaining active for ten years.

    The next decade of his life is practically undocumented. He may have worked for a shipping company in Sierra Leone under the alias Nikita Hartmann, and records from his daughter imply that he engaged in barter and cooking during his time in Africa. After 1926, Jellinek moved to Honduras, where he worked as an agricultural engineer for United Fruit Company and later became its director of research there. By 1929, he had arrived in the U.S., working in the banana company’s Boston office, where he completed a book on banana diseases published under a name like “A. N. Hartman” or “Nikita Hartmann” [right: cover of Banana Growth and Fruiting: A Popular Summary, by A. N. Hartman, which researchers say “is a somewhat abridged and less technical version of earlier publications”].

    Jellinek spent the first nine years of his American life at Worcester Hospital [left, 2007], primarily working with schizophrenic patients. He contributed to a vast collection of over 500 million data points, which formed the basis for a five-point schizophrenia rating scale.

    In 1939, he shifted his focus to alcoholism at New York University’s medical schools, where he was tasked with collecting and organizing previously published works on alcohol. This scientific review laid the groundwork for the professional literature collection now at Rutgers University (moved there from the Yale Institute of Alcohol Studies in 1962). Jellinek emerged as a prominent figure in alcoholology, culminating in an award named in his honor—one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field. He also became a practicing biostatistician, physiologist, and alcoholism researcher, fluent in nine languages and proficient in four others.

He wrote The Disease Concept of Alcoholism [left: cover, 1st ed., 1st pr.] and created a table [right, Aug 1952], illustrating the progression of alcoholism from “occasional relief drinking” to “obsessive drinking continues in vicious circles.” It would be converted to a curve named after Jellinek, even though he disavowed it. Dr. Max Glatt [left, 1990] modified it [right] in 1958 to include a recovery element, it remains popularly known as the “Jellinek Curve.” Over the years, it has been adapted for various forms of addiction and continues to be widely referenced today.

In 1938 [16th?], Archibald “Archie” T. [right], who would have his last drink on September 3rd, later spoke about his activities in the days leading up to that day:

No money. No place to live. No help. No morale left. No will to live left. That was my condition in the Summer of 1938. It caused me to park myself on an unsuspecting friend whose family were out of town and who didn’t know much about my career for the past, or previous, several years and he unwittingly invited me to stay in his home because I was homeless. He had me on his hands for 19 days. Every one of those days I was drunk, continuously. I would come home and sleep off the effects of several hours of drinking, crawl out of bed and go back to the saloon and get drunk again. I managed in that cagey way that alcoholics have, of avoiding him pretty well. Or at least I thought I did. In fact, I was quite sure in my alcoholic way that he didn’t even know I drank. 

In 1940, Clinton “Duke” P. of Toledo, Ohio, was admitted to Akron City Hospital with a diagnosis of “acute gastritis.” Akron’s A.A. members visited him there and he sobered up, never to drink again. 

In 1941, the Cuyahoga Central Committee of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) held its second meeting, with the notice written by Chairman Clarence S. [left]:

    Being mindful of the need and usefulness of a central committee, our two meetings have been marked by an outstanding atmosphere of fine fellowship and co-operation between the groups. We have had excellent attendance and much interest is being shown by all committee members in the furtherance of our fellowship.

    At the first meeting held five months earlier, attendees had voted to establish a Central Committee. During this meeting, Clarence was ousted as chairperson due to lingering mistrust stemming from a series on A.A. published by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Clarence referred to this upheaval as a “revolution,” and, as a result, little else was accomplished.

    During the second meeting, three committees were formed: Entertainment, chaired by Albert “Abby” G. [right]; Finance, chaired by Wm. “Bill” H.; and Hospital, chaired by H. L. M. Each committee comprised six members from various groups in the Cleveland area. Committee members were to serve a term of three months, or until the chairman’s term expires, or until the chairman replaced them.
    One of Clarence’s ideas, borrowed from Abby, was the “rotation” of officers, intended to ensure an equal and representative voice within the fellowship. Additionally, the meeting introduced the “new A.A. Pamphlets.” Mitchell K., Clarence’s biographer, believed these pamphlets were likely similar in content to earlier articles from the Houston Press, written by Larry J., whom Clarence sponsored before he moved to Texas and helped start A.A. there.