September 10 in A.A. History

1948: The Berea Group of Alcoholics Anonymous in Berea, Ohio [~12.4 mi, ~20.0 km SW of Cleveland], celebrated its eighth anniversary with Clar­ence S. as the main speaker [right: CD recording of his talk]. Its first meeting was on Friday, 23 August 1940, and the group continues to meet today.

September in A.A. History—day unknown

1950: [Early] Dr. Bob S. [left] underwent another operation. His live-in caretaker at the time, Emma K., recalled in 1977:

Then the pain was getting really bad. Every day, he went down a little further. And he did so hate to go to the hospital. But there were things that had to be done to him, and they couldn’t be done at home. So we [she and her alcoholic husband Lavelle K.] would take him in, and maybe he would stay a day and a night. Then we’d bring him back home.

We had good days, and we had bad days. I know one time he was in bed for six weeks. Sometimes, he had to have five or six shots. And he would always say, “Thank you kindly.”

1950: Bill W. [right] reported on the proceedings of the July 28–30 1st International Convention and A.A.’s 15th Anniversary Celebration in Cleveland, Ohio, in an A.A. Grapevine article titled “We Come of Age.” It began:

On AA’s 15th Anniversary everybody knew that we had grown up. There couldn’t be any doubt about it. Members, families and friends—seven thousand of them—spent three inspiring, almost awesome days with our good hosts at Cleveland.

The theme song of our Conference was gratitude; its keynote was the sure realization that we are now welded as one, the world over. As never before, we dedicated ourselves to the single purpose of carrying good news of AA to those millions who still don’t know. And, as we affirmed the Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous, we asked that we might remain in perfect unity under the Grace of God for so long as he may need us.

1952: Héctor C. was admitted to a clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a serious alcohol problem. There, he was treated by Dr. Roberto Pochat, an Argentine physician who had recently returned from the U.S., where he had completed a course on alcoholism at Yale University. He had also been in contact with many A.A. members, who explained the A.A. program to him in detail and had allowed him to attend many A.A. meetings.

During Héctor’s stay, Dr. Pochat encouraged him to read the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, along with several A.A. pamphlets, all in English.

1952: The A.A. Bulletin, a newsletter regularly sent to A.A. groups from the Alcoholic Foundation’s office in New York City, was renamed The Group Sec­retary. In 1955, it would be renamed again, to The General Service Bulletin. In May 1956, it would be consolidated with several other A.A. bulletins to create the A.A. Exchange Bulletin [far left: Vol. I, No. 1]. Finally, in December 1966, the A.A. Exchange Bulletin would be renamed Box 4‑5‑9 [near left: first Box 4‑5‑9, “formerly the A.A. Exchange Bulletin”].

1952: The Al-Anon Family Groups adopted the shortened form of the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, along with their own adaptations [right: Al-Anon’s Traditions, showing differences from A.A.’s]. It seems that Al-Anon has never had an equivalent to A.A.’s original (often referred to as the “long form”) of the Twelve Traditions.

1952: The Alcoholic Foundation office in New York City sent an “Interim Report” to General Service Areas and their Delegates. Some edited excerpts:

• A writer-consultant was retained to help with the development of… literature…
• A new basic folder on “The Structure and Services of AA” was prepared and distributed.
• Arrangements were made with Reader's Digest for 16 [sic] translations of Conference-approved literature. The languages were Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and French.
• Although the by-laws require that only Class A Trustees vote in elections for non-alcoholic members of the board, the names of suggested nominees will be presented to the Conference Committee on New Trustees for their consideration.