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A Narrative Timeline of AA History Confidential Version (Contains Last Names)

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A Narrative Timeline of AA History Confidential Version (Contains Last Names) A Narrative Timeline of AA History Confidential Version (Contains Last Names) Version includes a gradual addition of notes from several PowerPoint presentations Accumulated and Edited By Arthur S, Arlington, TX This is an Ongoing work and will be updated periodically Working Version Date - 2018-08-26 Table of Contents Important Notice and Appeal ........................................................................................................................................1 PowerPoint Note Pages ................................................................................................................................................1 Requested Restriction ..................................................................................................................................................1 Fair Use...........................................................................................................................................................................1 Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................1 Sources, References and Abbreviations.....................................................................................................................1 Origin of the Word “Alcohol” .......................................................................................................................................2 1700 to 1799 ...................................................................................................................................................................2 1800 to 1899 ...................................................................................................................................................................3 1900 to 1909 ...................................................................................................................................................................7 1910 to 1919 ...................................................................................................................................................................9 1920 to 1929 .................................................................................................................................................................12 1930 to 1939 .................................................................................................................................................................16 [Preliminary] Notes on the Evolution of the Steps ...................................................................................................30 1940 to 1949 .................................................................................................................................................................39 1950 to 1959 .................................................................................................................................................................56 1960 to 1969 .................................................................................................................................................................77 1970 to 1979 .................................................................................................................................................................89 1980 to 1989 ...............................................................................................................................................................101 1990 to 1999 ...............................................................................................................................................................112 2000 to 2009 ...............................................................................................................................................................123 2010 to Present ..........................................................................................................................................................135 Appendix A - Group and Membership Growth Trends ..........................................................................................142 Appendix B - Evolution of Personal Story Authors - 1st to 2nd Edition Big Book ................................................144 Appendix C - Change Log .........................................................................................................................................145 A Narrative Timeline of AA History Important Notice and Appeal This version of the narrative timeline differs from previous versions distributed. The document has the last names of AA and Al-Anon members. It is primarily intended for distribution to AA members and individuals engaged in serious AA history research. PowerPoint Note Pages Narrative text from PowerPoint note pages will be gradually merged into the document and will be a major addition. The subject material is from the following presentations identified by file name: • 2017-06-08-History-of-the-3-Legacies-of-AA-(115)-57-min.pptx • 2015-12-02-Facts-and-Myths-About-the-Big-Book-(102)-54-min.pptx • 2015-12-03-Diamond-Anniversary-of-the-Big-Book-(101)-63-min.pptx • 2017-04-20-History-of-the-Big-Book-(99)-49-min.pptx • 2017-05-18-Ebbys-Story-(97)-58-min.pptx • 2017-05-05-Dubious-Sources-and-Myths-in-AA-History-(108)-54-min.pptx • 2016-10-04-History-of-the-AA-General-Service-Structure-(114)-nn-min.pptx • 2015-04-07-Timeline-History-of-AA-With Fort-Worth-and-Dallas-(114)-60-min.pptx • 2016-06-14-Timeline-History-of-AA-(94)-nn-min.pptx • 2017-04-02-History-of-the-12-Traditions-of-AA-(101)-55-min.pptx • 2017-04-15-History-of-AA-in-Texas-(99)-57-min.pptx File naming for the PowerPoint presentations uses the following conventions: • The first eleven characters are the date (yyyy-mm-dd-) that the presentation was last modified • The number of slides in the presentation are denoted in parenthesis - e.g. (99) • The duration of the presentation (at my pace) is denoted in minutes - e.g. 57-min Copies of the PPTx presentations can be made available to historians on a case-by-case basis. Requested Restriction Under no circumstances should this document be sold or intermingled with other sold material. It is intended to be freely given away as an AA history research and education tool. Fair Use AA, Alcoholics Anonymous, The Big Book, Box 459, The Grapevine, GV, Box 1980 and La Viña are registered trademarks of Alcoholics Anonymous World Service (AAWS) Inc or AA Grapevine Inc. Publication of this document does not denote nor imply affiliation with, approval by, or endorsement from, Alcoholics Anonymous or any part of its worldwide service structure. The narrative and any errors contained in this document are the sole responsibility of the author. Single-use excerpts from AAWS and AA Grapevine publications and archives documents are cited under the good faith and fair use provisions of US copyright statutes for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research. The reader is urged to review an illustrated timeline of AA history developed by GSO Archives accessible at the AA.org website. The website also offers the download of PDF files of past issues of Box 4-5-9 and the GSO Archives newsletter “Markings.” A number of other reputable and source-rich websites are identified as well in this document as exceptional digital AA history repositories. January 2018 1 Confidential A Narrative Timeline of AA History Foreword AA Members seem to have a warm place in their heart for AA history. The AA Fellowship also has a strong verbal tradition. Much information is passed on by word of mouth. This has both its good and difficult sides. It begs the question “how much narrative is fact and how much is myth or error?” History is not supposed to be statements of beliefs; it is supposed to be statements of facts. Much anecdotal myth circulates in AA and is erroneously accepted as fact. Myths unfortunately assume the aura of facts when frequently repeated. Inaccurate statements such as “Dr Bob sobered up on June 10, 1935” or “no changes have been made to the wording of the Big Book basic text” permeate AA. The popular adage that “repetition strengthens and confirms” certainly applies to practicing AA principles. Unfortunately, it also applies to making myths and errors appear to be facts. The objective of this timeline document is to aid those engaged in AA history research and study. Much effort has been taken to ensure that what is presented has been verified and confirmed in at least one or hopefully multiple reliable source references. Timeline items are cross-referenced to their source(s) of derivation to provide both corroboration and external sources for further investigation. The cross-references also provide attribution to the source materials and locations. Two Excel workbooks complement this document. They contain AA membership and literature distribution count data mainly derived from final General Service Conference Reports from 1951 to 2016: • Appx-1: contains annual counts/estimates of AA groups and members. It also includes data from a contemporary GSO service piece “Estimated Worldwide AA Individual and Group Membership” (F-132) as a separate worksheet in the workbook. A PDF version can be downloaded from the AA.org web site. • Appx-2: contains annual book distribution counts and royalties reported for the English language versions of the Big Book, 12&12, AA Comes of Age and As Bill Sees
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