1940: The Alcoholic Foundation relocated*
from 17 Williams St. in Newark, New Jersey, to a two-room office at 30 Vesey
St.†
[left]
in Lower Manhattan, New York City. With the move, Ruth Hock
[right]
became the first National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation. Before the
move, most of the draft lined yellow pages and draft manuscripts of the Big
Book had been discarded, including the first draft of the Twelve Steps, a
tremendous loss for the Alcoholics Anonymous Archives.
Rent for the new office was $650 a year [~$15,100 in 2026]. Lorraine Greim
[right], Ruth’s recently hired non-alcoholic assistant, received a raise from
$12
[~$278 in 2026] a week to $15 [~$350
in 2026], because she had expected to work in Newark when she was hired. Bill W.
affectionately nicknamed her “Sweetie Pie.”
[left]
in Lower Manhattan, New York City. With the move, Ruth Hock
[right]
became the first National Secretary of the Alcoholic Foundation. Before the
move, most of the draft lined yellow pages and draft manuscripts of the Big
Book had been discarded, including the first draft of the Twelve Steps, a
tremendous loss for the Alcoholics Anonymous Archives.Rent for the new office was $650 a year [~$15,100 in 2026]. Lorraine Greim
[right], Ruth’s recently hired non-alcoholic assistant, received a raise from
$12
[~$278 in 2026] a week to $15 [~$350
in 2026], because she had expected to work in Newark when she was hired. Bill W.
affectionately nicknamed her “Sweetie Pie.”
*
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age incorrectly dates this move to February
1940.
† On 11 September 2001, 30
Vesey Street was nearly destroyed when the World Trade Center buildings
collapsed.
1975: The first 12-step meeting conducted in Japanese took place at the Kamata Catholic Church
[left]
near Haneda Airport in the Ōta district of Tokyo. This event marked the
beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous in Japan. After this, A.A. events started
being held throughout Japan.
2000: Nancy M.-O. [right] founded AA History Buffs on egroups.com. After at least 444 posts to the group, she somehow lost or forgot the password, and subsequently restarted the group on Yahoo Groups.
No comments:
Post a Comment