January 2 in A.A. History

In 1889, Bridget Della Mary Gavin was born in Shanvilly, County Mayo, Ireland. After immigrating to the United States, she joined the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in Cleveland, Ohio, where she received the religious name Sister Mary Ignatia [right: Sr. Ignatia interviewing an alcoholic for possible admission]. An accomplished musician, she was assigned to teach music for about ten years but found the pace “too hectic” and eventually suffered a nervous breakdown.
    After her recovery, her superior appointed her to work in the admissions office at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. Despite the hospital’s policy against treating drunks, she began secretly doing so in 1934. She would go on to assist Dr. Bob S. [left] and thousands of alcoholics, earning the nickname “The Drunks’ Little Angel of Hope.”

In 1896, Harry Tiebout [right] was born in Brooklyn, New York. According to the unsigned introduction to the book Harry Tiebout: The Collected Writings (1999), “He would become the first psychiatrist to publicly recognize and uphold the work of Alcoholics Anonymous,” and would be “uniquely distinguished for having facilitated communication between the worlds of alcoholism and psychiatry.”

In 1931, in its “Scientific Notes and News” [left], Science magazine noted that Dr. Frederick B., as president of the American Institute of Chemists had been elected ex officio as an honorary member of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Societies of South Africa. This announcement appeared three below that of Albert Einstein accepting an invitation to become the Cecil Rhodes Memorial Lecturer at Oxford.
    Dr. B. was Bill W.'s first real A.A. prospect in December 1934. 

	In 1940, Dr. Bob S. wrote to Bill W. [right: both men, respectively],     Have definitely shaken off the shackles of the Oxford Group and are meeting at my house for the time being. Had 74 Wednesday in my little house, but shall get a hall soon [left: Dr. Bob and Anne's residence, 855 Ardmore Ave., Akron, Ohio; above—living room; below—aerial view].

In 2003, the Mid-Southern California (Area 09) Archives relocated to its second location at 6922 Brockton Ave. in Riverside [left, August 2008].

January 1 in A.A. History

In 1773, the song known today as “Amazing Grace” was first performed at a public prayer meeting in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
    Written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton [left] to illustrate that day’s sermon, it was originally titled “1 Chronicles 17:16-17” [right: Olney Hymns (1779), p. 53]. It is unclear whether there was any musical accompaniment; it may have been chanted.
    Newton had grown up without any religious beliefs and had been pressed into service in the Royal Navy. After leaving the Navy, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, a violent storm had battered his ship so severely that he cried out to God for mercy. He claimed that this moment had marked his spiritual conversion, but he continued to trade slaves until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring career. Newton then began to study Christian theology, was ordained in the Church of England in 1764, and later became an abolitionist.

In 1946, the A.A. Grapevine raised the cost of an annual subscription from $1.50 to $2.50 [~$26 to $43 in 2026] and of each issue from 15¢ to 25¢ [~$2.60 to $4.30 in 2026].

In 1948, in Tokyo, Japan, Harry G. started the country’s first Alcoholics Anonymous group, an English-speaking one. An Indiana A.A. member, he was writing a book about the war crimes trials of 1945–48.
    After an article about A.A. had appeared in Pacific Stars and Stripes [right: 15 Dec 1946 issue], the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City had been inundated with letters from U.S. Armed Forces members in Japan. The Foundation had forwarded these names to Harry, who had written to the Foundation in December 1947, suggesting that Japan presented fertile ground for A.A. The establishment of this English-speaking group would eventually lead to the formation of Japanese-language groups throughout the country.

In 1975, Bill W.: My First 40 Years [left: cover], Bill’s autobiography as told to Robert Thomsen, was published. The following is an excerpt from the 2006 edition published by Hazelden:

    “I was born, to be exact, in a hotel then known as Wilson House… I was born, perhaps rightly, in a room just back of the old bar.” It was the beginning of a life that would change the lives of millions. Told here for the first time in his own words is the story of the man who would come to be known as Bill W.—a man who, for his part in founding the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, would be celebrated as one of the important figures of the twentieth century. “The terrifying darkness had become complete. In agony of spirit, I again thought of the cancer of alcoholism which had now consumed me in mind and spirit, and soon the body. But what of the Great Physician? For a brief moment, I suppose, the last trace of my obstinacy was crushed out as the abyss yawned. I remember saying to myself, ‘I'll do anything, anything at all. If there be a Great Physician, I'll call on him.’ Then, with neither faith nor hope I cried out, ‘If there be a God, let him show himself.’”

In 1979, the clinical modification version of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), commonly known as ICD-9-CM, was mandated in the United States for billing and clinical coding in reportings, such as Medicare and Medicaid claims, starting on this date.
    The IDC-9 had been designed and finalized in the late 1970s (approximately 1977–1978) and was the first version to classify alcoholism in both its medical and psychiatric sections.

In 2002, the second meeting of the month-long Online Service Conference (OSC) commenced with 59 participants, including 33 group representatives, alternates, and the Steering Committee. This meeting continued the discussion of several issues addressed at the first conference. The agenda included:

1. definition of an “online A.A. group,”
2. online literature publication and AAWS copyrights,
3. using online A.A. to reach those who cannot be served by “face to face” A.A.,
4. anonymity guidelines for the Internet,
5. issues affecting world unity of the A.A. Fellowship, and
6. future OSC participation with other A.A. organizations.

In 2004, the fourth meeting of the month-long Online Service Conference (OSC) commenced, with 48 groups represented. Including alternates and steering committee members, total attendance reached 73.

In 2008, Robert “Bob” P. [right], 90, died peacefully of “old age” at his home in Bellevue, Idaho, surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. He was a writer, publicist, WWII veteran, and community leader.
    Bob is perhaps best remembered in Alcoholics Anonymous for his powerful and inspiring closing talk at the 1986 General Service Conference, where he addressed what he considered to be A.A.’s greatest danger.

    If you were to ask me what is the greatest danger facing A.A. today, I would have to answer: the growing rigidity—the increasing demand for absolute answers to nit-picking questions; pressure for GSO to “enforce” our Traditions; screening alcoholics at closed meetings; prohibiting non-Conference-approved literature, i.e., “banning books;” laying more and more rules on groups and members. And in this trend toward rigidity, we are drifting farther and farther away from our co-founders. Bill [W.], in particular, must be spinning in his grave, for he was perhaps the most permissive person I ever met.

    One of his favorite sayings was, “Every group has the right to be wrong.” He was maddeningly tolerant of his critics, and he had absolute faith that faults in A.A. were self-correcting.
    After getting sober in 1961, Bob dedicated himself to A.A., occasionally working alongside its co-founder, Bill W. He served on local and national boards of A.A. and was eventually appointed General Manager of A.A.’s General Service Organization, overseeing significant international growth and expansion from 1974 to 1984. Under his leadership, the organization played a vital role in establishing hundreds of unrelated 12-step programs, helping millions conquer various addictions. Additionally, he authored a well-known unpublished manuscript on A.A. history in 1985, which was unsuccessfully offered to the General Service Conference for its approval.
    Through his service to A.A., Bob, along with his wife Betsy (a longtime member of Al-Anon), traveled the world, speaking to both small A.A. groups and at International Conventions with over 50,000 attendees. His A.A. story, “A.A. Taught Him to Handle Sobriety,” was first published as the closing story in the third edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.