September 16 in A.A. History

1971: [Early] Nell Wing [left] became the first official Archivist for A.A. Her friend and a former Trustee, Thomas A. “Tom” S. [right] from Jacksonville, Florida, visited her for the first time in two or three years. They discussed the preservation work she had been doing for some fifteen years. Fifteen minutes after Tom left, Robert E. “Bob” H., General Manager of the General Service Office (GSO), “dashed in… saying hurriedly, ‘Now, Nell, drop everything else you are doing and get right on the archives!’” Apparently Tom had realized she hadn't yet been named GSO’s Archivist and asked Bob to fix this. From that day until her retirement, Nell served as the official GSO Archivist.

Previously, in 1954, she and Edward H. “Ed” B. [left] had been appointed by Bill W. to be a Writing and Research Team; on their own, they had initiated archival activities in 1955.

1972: The remains of Father Edward “Ed” Dowling, S.J. [right], were reburied at Calvary Cemetery^* in Baden, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, where Fr. Ed had grown up. The seminary where he was originally buried, St. Stanislaus, closed in 1971, and the grounds were sold in 1972.

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^*This is the same cemetery where Dred Scott, the Black slave whose attempt to gain his freedom was a key factor in igniting the American Civil War, was buried. Dowling had led the Old Baden Society in its successful effort to identify Scott’s unmarked grave and erect a monument in 1956.

1973: Joe McQ. [far left] & Charlie P. [near left] met when Joe introduced Charlie as the A.A. speaker at an Al-Anon Convention. Joe had wondered if Charlie might be the country-western singer Charley Pride. He wasn’t even the right color, Joe lamented. They instantly discovered their mutual fascination with A.A.’s basic text: the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. What interested them most was that it had been written in a particular sequence to convey certain ideas. That interest began a close friendship which has lasted the rest of their lives. They would frequently meet to discuss the book, often driving 225 miles to meet in each other’s homes.

Soon they were planning meetings (with others, presumably) in hotel rooms at A.A. conventions in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and within a few years, the meetings grew in popularity.

1974: The first Italian-language A.A. group in Switzerland was formed in the Canton of Ticino (known as Tessin in French and German) [right: map of Switzerland, with Ticino highlighted], the southernmost canton of the country and the only one where Italian is the sole official language.

1975: Ernest “Ernie” K. [left, in Egypt], who would later author Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous, was admitted to the Guest House’s three-month treatment program for priests after he continued to drink following detoxification at the Harvard Infirmary.

1976: The first Japanese-language 12-Step meeting officially registered as the “Tokyo Group” with the General Service Office in New York City. Following this, activities became more focused, leading to the establishment of Alcoholics Anonymous groups throughout the country.

1976: Harbor House published Bert D.: Hardhat, Inebriate, Scholar [far left: cover] by Al S. [near left, 1947], a biography of Henry Berton “Bert” D. In 1962, with his wife Hazel, Bert founded Harbor House [near right: entrance (Mar 2019); far right: Harbor House itself], a treatment center in Memphis, Tennessee, based on Alcoholics Anonymous principles, religion, and philosophy. Bert’s life was a struggle for sobriety, and Harbor House became his life’s work. It remains in operation today.