March 16 in A.A. History

In 1940, the Alcoholic Foundation^* relocated from 17 Williams St. in Newark, New Jersey, to a two-room office at 30 Vesey St.^† [right, c. 1940] in lower Manhattan, New York City. Most of the draft-lined yellow pages and draft manuscripts of the Big Book were discarded before the move, including the first draft of the Twelve Steps, a huge loss for the A.A. Archives.

     Rent was $650 a year [~$14,750 in 2025]. The recently hired Lorraine Greim, Ruth Hock’s non-alcoholic assistant, received a raise from $12 [~$272 in 2025] a week to $15 [~$340 in 2025], because she had expected to work in Newark when she was hired. Bill Wilson affectionately referred to her as “Sweetie Pie.”

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^*Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age dates this move—incorrectly—to February 1940.
^†On 11 September 2001, 30 Vesey Street was nearly destroyed when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed.

In 1940, Ruth Hock [left] became the first National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation, effectively making her the first National Secretary of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1975, the first 12-step meeting conducted in Japanese took place at the Kamata Catholic Church [right] near Haneda Airport in Tokyo, in the district of Ōta. This event marked the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous in Japan and initiated the practice of the Twelve Steps, the foundation of the A.A. recovery program. Following this, A.A. events were held throughout Japan. 

In 2000, Nancy O. [left] founded AA History Buffs on egroups.com. After at least 444 posts to the group, she somehow lost the password and subsequently moved the group to Yahoo Groups.