Links


AA Bibliography:  see http://www.aabibliography.com/aarecovlinks.html for a long list of links to other sites.


AA History:  A good deal of valuable information about A.A. history can be found at http://www.aahistory.com. This site is maintained by the excellent AA archivist and historian Doug B. Among other items, it contains the Memorial Books for Nell Wing, Nancy O., Esther Coleman, Robert Ripley Smith, Searcy W., Dr. Earle M., Sue Smith Windows, Doc John, Dr. Paul O., and Hugh M.


AA History Lovers:  The AAHistoryLovers web group is a key place for the interchange of information about A.A. history and archives. The membership includes people from all around the world, including the majority of the best experts in the field:  http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/.  Founded by Nancy Olson (September 18, 1929 - March 25, 2005), this group is intended for all those interested in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is not limited to members of AA, and is not an AA group. As of May 2005, there were 1,294 members, and 2,420 messages posted (which are a goldmine of information on all sorts of topics). This is one of the sites which AA historians need to look at regularly in order to stay abreast of the latest and most accurate information in this field.


Alcohol and Drugs History Society:  http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/alcohol_and_drugs_history/aa_research/ This is the online home of The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs. See also Trysh Travis, "Print Culture in the AA Fellowship," an Adobe Acrobat PDF file at http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/SHAD19TravisAAPrintCulture.pdf.


Alcoholics Anonymous:  a photographic journey through its history at http://aabbsg.de/aahistoryphotos/.


Alcoholics Anonymous History:  see DMOZ Open Directory Project below.


Archives International:  a variety of interesting historical materials at http://www.archivesinternational.org/.


Australia:  history of A.A. in Australia at http://www.alcoholicsanonymous.org.au/factfile/fact_file_history.php?nav=hp/.


Baltimore:  AA historian Al W., who sends his humorous musings every week to people all over the country, has created an excellent website for the West Baltimore AA groups, which also contains some really good material on national A.A. history. See West Baltimore A.A. at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/, the History Page at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/HistoryPage.htm, and all of the good historical materials on the Info Page at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/Info.htm. Nancy Olson's Biographies of the Big Book Authors are also available on this site at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/Authors.htm.


Barefootsworld AA History:  AA historian and archivist Bill Lash's webpage at http://www.barefootsworld.net/aahistory.html.

http://www.barefootsworld.net/aapeople.html has a detailed and comprehensive alphabetical list of "People In A.A. History Mentioned In The Literature: Who Were They? What Did They Do?"

Big Book, text of the first 164 pages:  The text is set up for searching for particular words and also phrases, which is useful for people who are trying to find the page number of a particular phrase or sentence. http://anonpress.org/bb/.


Big Book Authors and Stories:  Nancy Olson's Biographies of the Authors of the Stories in the Big Book, which gives a series of short biographies of all the A.A. members who wrote the stories in the back of the Big Book, can be read at http://www.a-1associates.com/aa/Authors.htm and at http://silkworth.net/aabiography/storyauthors.html.

http://www.aabibliography.com/aapioneers/bigbookstories.PDF contains a list of the stories in the first edition of the Big Book, indicating which ones were in the OM (original manuscript in multilithed form) and which ones were added after that, also which stories were carried over into the second and third editions.

http://www.recovery.org/aa/bigbook/ww/stories1.html contains the text of the stories which were in the first edition.

http://www.aabibliography.com/earlypioneersbigbookstores.html has photos of some of the people in those stories in the first edition.

Big Book Concordance:  A Concordance to the entire 3rd edition of the Big Book (including the stories at the end) at http://www.royy.com/concord.html, where one can take any of 9,885 different words and find every page in the Big Book in which that word is used. The words listed run from from Abandon, Abandoned, Aberrations, Abetted, Abide, and Abilities at the beginning of the A's, to Yourselves, Youth, Youthful, Zeal, Zero, and Zone at the very end of the list.


Big Book Concordance:  A Concordance to the first 164 pages of the Big Book (which may be used with either the 3rd or 4th edition) at http://www.anonpress.org/bbindex/. The words listed run from Abandoned, Abated, Aberrations, Abide, and Abilities at the beginning of the A's, to Written, Wrong-doing, Wronged, Wrought, and Zeal at the very end of the list.


Bishop of Books:  The Bishop of Books at http://www.bishopofbooks.faithweb.com/. This website is run by Charlie Bishop, Jr., in Wheeling WV, who has been for many years the leading bookseller dealing in rare books in AA history. E-mail bishopbk@comcast.net. Any good collection on A.A. history and archives should have the reference book which was put together by him and Bill Pittman from the Hazelden Archives and published by the Bishop of Books in Wheeling WV: Charlie Bishop, Jr. & Bill Pittman, To Be Continued . . . The Alcoholics Anonymous World Bibliography 1935-1994.


Books, including rare and out-of-print:  see the Bishop of Books (above) and Hazelden (below on this list). People looking for books from AA history and in other related areas should also look at the following two general dealers in rare and out-of-print books:
Abebooks:  http://abebooks.com

A Libris Books:  http://alibris.com

Clarence Snyder:  For the text of Mitchell K.'s classic work on early A.A. history, How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio (1991, 1997), go to http://aabbsg.de/chs/index.htm.


Colliers Wood group in London, England:  The Design for Living AA Group at Christ Church Hall, 58 Christchurch Road, London SW19 2NY (meeting on Sunday afternoons, a three minute walk from the Colliers Wood tube stop) has a website http://www.designforlivingaagroup.co.uk/ that is put together beautifully and is a nice model for how to do a good group website. It's got excellent material on sponsorship, the AA group, and AA literature, and keeps things firmly grounded in AA's historic heritage.

CLICK HERE to visit the Design for Living Group's website


Cybriety:  AA history and photos at http://www.rewritables.net/cybriety/aa_history.htm.


Detroit:  go to http://www.aa-semi.org/originalsite/ and click on "Detroit A.A. History" on the lefthand side.


DMOZ Open Directory Project,  Alcoholics Anonymous History. A good list of links to other websites dealing with AA history can be found at http://dmoz.org/Health/Addictions/Substance_Abuse/Alcoholism/Support_Groups/Alcoholics_Anonymous/History/.


Meditation for Alcohol Abuse:  main page is at http://www.meditation-for-alcohol-abuse.com with a good list of links to other sites at http://www.meditation-for-alcohol-abuse.com/alcoholismtreatment/ and many of the other individual pages on this site.


Minnesota A.A. history:  http://www.minnesotarecovery.info/AAHistory.htm.


Mitchell K. and others:  Writing the Big Book:  AA History at http://alcoholism.about.com/library/blmitch8.htm. E-mail address is the_archivist@excite.com. Principally contains columns written by Mitchell K.  For the text of Mitchell K.'s classic book on early A.A. history, How It Worked: The Story of Clarence H. Snyder and the Early Days of Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio (1991, 1997), go to http://aabbsg.de/chs/index.htm.


Primary Purpose:  people in AA history at http://www.aaprimarypurpose.org/literature/People.htm.


Silkworth.net  people in AA history at http://www.silkworth.net/aahistory_names/namesa.html.


Social History of Alcohol and Drugs:  see Alcohol and Drugs History Society above.


stepstudy.org  Twelve-step theory and history.  For those who are studying the Oxford Group, this site has some especially good and useful downloads, including the complete text of H. A. Walter's Soul Surgery, V. C. Kitchen's I Was a Pagan, and What is the Oxford Group? by The Layman With a Notebook, at http://stepstudy.org/.


Steve C.'s Serenity Corner  at http://www.angelfire.com/sc/anonymouscox/. A web site maintained by a good friend, with links to the Alcoholism Recovery Site Ring, the Alcoholics Web Ring, and a central website on PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD can affect not just military veterans like Steve, but also other recovering people who have undergone severely traumatic experiences; anyone treating alcoholics and drug addicts should be familiar with its symptoms, and with the history of the diagnosis and treatment of shell shock, battle fatigue, PTSD, and so on. There is also material on a well-known AA old-timer from Colorado, Frank (Fritz) Ellifritz (Aug. 6, 1933-June 8, 2001).


Tennessee Archives (Area 64):  http://www.area64tnarchives.org. They have some very fine photos from the 6th Annual Archives Workshop in Clarksville, Indiana, September 28-30, 2001 at http://area64tnarchives.org/6tharchivesworkshop.htm


Walk in Dry Places:  Mel B.'s new website is up now at http://www.walkindryplaces.com. Mel is an old-timer who helped put together Pass It On (the A.A. World Services biography of Bill W.) and has been a regular contributor to the Grapevine.
Mel has also written six widely read books on A.A. history and spirituality: New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle, Walk in Dry Places, Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W., The 7 Key Principles of Successful Recovery, (with Bill P.), My Search for Bill W., and most recently Three Recovery Classics, a volume containing James Allen's As a Man Thinketh, Henry Drummond's The Greatest Thing in the World, and the St. Francis Prayer, with Mel's introductions and commentaries on these works which were so important to early A.A. spirituality.

We Recover:  a recovery action group which has been having a good deal of success in changing attitudes and government policies toward recovering people. See http://werecover.org/. Founded by Samantha-Hope Atkins (New Orleans, Louisiana), whom Nancy Olson has dubbed "the new Marty Mann."
"The WeRecover Foundation was created to organize, educate, and take action to bring social change forward. We need you, your family, friends and supporters to join us and build this national organization. Created and managed by those in recovery for those in recovery we believe that our actions as citizens, concerned about the health and safety of our communities related to addiction is a vital component to solutions that bring broad change and hope to millions of Americans."

West Baltimore AA:  see Baltimore above.



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