August 9 in A.A. History

1943: [This event is frequently cited as having taken place in 1890!] The Los Angeles Times reported [right] that 400 members of Alcoholics Anonymous had attended an annual picnic at Sycamore Grove Park the day before. These attendees represented 11 groups, totaling around 1,000 members. During the picnic, it was announced that Bill W. would be visiting Southland (Greater Los Angeles, California) groups for two months, beginning in early October.

August in A.A. History—day unknown

1950: [p. 334 of Pass It On says that this meeting took place on 12 November 1950, just two weeks before Dr. Bob’s death] Bill W. made his final visit to Dr. Bob S. [left: the two of them together, likely in the 1940s] in Akron, Ohio. During the meeting, Bill told Bob that the Alcoholic Foundation’s Board of Trustees would likely approve a General Service Conference if Bob backed the plan. Bill later reported to the Board that Dr. Bob had endorsed establishing the Conference.

1956: A question and answer about how to open a meeting was featured in the “Round-Up of Group Experience” section [right] of the AA Exchange Bulletin (later renamed Box 4-5-9). The section was titled “Variety of Topics Are Highlighted”:

Q. Does A.A. have a prepared “preamble” for use in opening meetings or discussions at an “outside” gathering?

A. Although there is no set procedure, the description of A.A. originally developed for use in “The A. A. Grapevine” is used to open many group meetings and might be considered equally useful at “outside” meetings:
[The piece then quotes the complete Preamble from the A.A. Grapevine at that time, which still mentions “an honest desire to stop drinking.”]

1958: The AA Exchange Bulletin, later renamed Box 4-5-9, announced [left] that September had been designated “AA Census Month.”

All groups were encouraged to conduct an accurate count of their members—those participating in group affairs, as well as members “presently sober who are not known to be affiliated with other groups.”

The same issue included a report outlining plans to increase subscriptions to the A.A. Grapevine:

Russ C., business manager of the journal, reported that test mailings to obtain new subscriptions would be made in three areas before a decision was made on whether to ask all subscribers to join the current circulation effort. The new campaign is based on asking each current reader to obtain at least one new subscription.

1960: The AA Central Bulletin reported [near right] that the A.A. Grapevine, Inc.’s special publication, AA Today [far right: cover], commemorating A.A.’s 25th anniversary, had sold nearly 20,000 copies to date, with only 5,000 copies remaining. A third printing was already planned for the coming winter.

1978: The A.A. Grapevine published a news item announcing the French translation of The Best of Bill:

And here’s a news note on a Grapevine publication, “Best of Bill,” five small pamphlets (enclosed in a folder) reprinting GV articles by our co-founder. The five articles have been translated into French in Canada and have been printed there… in a single pamphlet of standard size. Titled “Par Bill” [left: cover of recent version, now titled Les meilleurs articles de Bill], it is available from Service de Littérature AA du Québec, 7210, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal, Qué., Canada H2R 2E2.