New website devoted to A.A. Co-founder Dr. Bob

[admin]

http://www.drbob.info/

[dickb]

A.A.’s “Prince of All Twelfth-Steppers”—Dr. Bob

By Dick B.

© 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved

What Is Our Real Purpose?

Is A.A. a religion? Is it a medical treatment program? Bill Wilson cautioned AAs to remember that clergymen and physicians were the “experts”; and then cautioned that AAs were merely their assistants. Is A.A. today, then, still a Twelve-Step program where the assistants emphasize love and service transmitted by one recovered alcoholic to another who still suffers? I believe it depends on how well we know our purpose.

Bill W. and Dr. Bob were very clear about the primary purpose of the Fellowship.

Bill Wilson wrote: “Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, p. 20). Dr. Bob declared in his last address that our Twelve Steps, “when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words love and service” (RHS, The A.A. Grapevine, 1951, p. 43). And Dr. Bob was the pioneer who devoted himself absolutely, completely, and continuously to helping others recover by the power of God.

Bill Wilson himself called his partner Dr. Bob “the prince of all twelfth-steppers.” The same Dr. Bob who, to 1950, the year of his death, “carried the A.A. message to more than 5,000 alcoholic men and women, and to all these he gave his medical services without thought of charge.” Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, p. 171.

More specifically, Bill said this about our primary purpose and Dr. Bob’s role and accomplishments in carrying out that purpose:

It had been decided that Bob would attend mostly to the questions of hospitalization and the development of our Twelfth Step work. Between 1940 and 1950, in the company of that marvelous nun, Sister Ignatia, he had treated 5,000 drunks at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron. His spiritual example was a powerful influence, and he never charged a cent for his medical care. So Dr. Bob became the prince of all twelfth-steppers” (The Co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical sketches: Their last major talks, 1972, 1975, p. 34).

The message here, then, is the importance of remembering from Dr. Bob’s example why our Fellowship exists and the essentials for its usefulness and potential for future successes.

Here’s What A.A. Literature Says about Our Purpose:

Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
(The A.A. Preamble. The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.)
To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book.
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, p. xiii)
-
“5. Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose—that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers”
(Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, Tradition Five, p. 563)


The Documented Success Rates
75% to 93% among Pioneers Who Really Carried Out the Purpose

Numerous historical documents record that, in 1937, Bill and Bob “counted noses” and found that 40 men had achieved this record: “Of alcoholics who came to A.A. and really tried, 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses, and among the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed improvement” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., p. xx. See also: RHS, p. 8; The Language of the Heart, p. 10; and Richard K., New Freedom: Alcoholics Anonymous Reclaimed). By the time Frank Amos investigated the Akron program and reported to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in February, 1938, he could say: “The alcoholic group comprised ‘some 50 men and I believe, two women former alcoholics—all considered practically incurable by physicians—who have been reformed and so far have remained teetotalers’” (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, pp. 129-31). In May, 1939, Clarence Snyder started a new group in Cleveland for alcoholics only. He took with him the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, the Bible, and the Four Absolutes. Bill Wilson said that, after a year, the Cleveland group had about 30 groups; and A.A. literature reports: “Records in Cleveland show that 93 percent of those who came to us never had a drink again” (DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, pp. 211, 261).

Gloria Deo
Dickb@dickb.com

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[dickb]

Initial Materials Donated by Dick B. to Found
The Dr. Bob Core Library
at
North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
February 5, 2008

Number of Items: 8

Description of Items:

DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (A.A.’s bio of Dr. Bob and Akron Pioneers)
Pass It On (A.A.’s bio of cofounder Bill Wilson)
The Co-founders Pamphlet (Containing Dr. Bob’s Last Major Address, 1948)
Dr. Bob and His Library, 3rd ed. (All known books read and circulated by Bob
to early AAs and their families)
Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, 3rd ed. (Study of the basic A.A. principles
and practices compiled by Dr. Bob’s wife and shared in morning “Quiet Times” with early AAs and their families in Akron)
The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed. (the story of the founding
of A.A. in Akron by Bill, Bob, and the Pioneers, 1935-1938)
Our Faith Legacy (the story of the work, writings, principles, retreats, and
practices of pioneer AA Clarence Snyder, a sponsee of Dr. Bob from
February 1938 for life)
Alcoholics Anonymous (a privately printed pamphlet with the original Big
Book circus cover, containing all of the personal stories deleted from A.A. Big Book editions over the period from 1939 to 2001)

Suggested Library Category: Early A.A. Literature from GSO, Dick B., A.A. Historians.

Still to come as and when funding is received for this category:

Children of the Healer by Dr. Bob’s kids
RHS, the memorial AA Grapevine issue on Dr. Bob’s death
Three Dick B. works-in-progress devoted exclusively to Dr. Bob’s bio and life
Alcoholics Anonymous (reprint of first edition, current 4th edition)
Four Akron A.A. pamphlets commissioned by Dr. Bob and still circulated
A complete copy of the original Anne Smith’s journal – hand and typewritten
Copy of earliest multi-lith copy of Alcoholics Anonymous (also known as “the Big Book”) circulated prior to publication.
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[dickb]

Bill meets Bob and A.A. is Founded

Dick B.
© 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved.

The story of A.A.’s founding, on June 10, 1935 at the home of Dr. Robert H. Smith and his wife Anne at 855 Ardmore Avenue in Akron, Ohio, has two separate, distinct, and very different roots. The first involves William Griffith Wilson (who is known to AAs as Bill W.). Bill was born and raised in East Dorset, Vermont. His grandfather Willie Wilson had a conversion experience and never drank again. Bill had been involved in the East Congregational Church and in daily chapel as a youngster, but soon became a classic drunk. Propelled by his friend Ebby Thacher of Albany, New York, and by his psychiatrist Dr. William Silkworth, Bill went to Calvary Rescue Mission in New York, continued to drink, but only a few days later called on the “Great Physician” for help, and had his famous conversion experience at Towns Hospital. After which, Bill never drank again. Bill gained a firm conviction that conversion could produce the cure of alcoholism. His message never resonated with his early listeners on the East Coast. And now we turn to Dr. Bob. As a youngster in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Bob said he had received excellent training in the Bible; and the whole community was then alive with conversions, revivals, Bible study, prayer meetings, Sunday school attendance, and Christian Endeavor activity. But, when Bob left St. Johnsbury to attend Dartmouth, he soon also became a classic drunk Yet years later, Bob brought with him to Akron, Ohio his deep recollections of his Christian upbringing, Bible study, prayer meetings, conversions, and training. But he continued to drink excessively. The roots converged when Bill Wilson, who had achieved sobriety in late 1934, came to Akron on an ill-fated business deal. Bill had been associated with the Oxford Group in New York; and Dr. Bob had been connected with the Groups since the famous Oxford Group meetings in Akron in 1933. Though Dr. Bob liked the Oxford Group people, he remained a drunk until Henrietta B. Seiberling of Akron convened at meeting at the home of inventor T. Henry Williams in Akron. At its close, Dr. Bob was invited to pray; and the entire group knelt on the carpet and prayed for Dr. Bob’s recovery. Another wind was blowing, for Bill Wilson knew, from his Oxford Group experience, that he would get drunk if he didn’t find a drunk to help. He was put in touch with Henrietta Seiberling through the efforts of Dr. Walter Tunks of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Bill told Henrietta he was a rum hound from New York and a member of the Oxford Group and needed to talk to a drunk. Henrietta—remembering the prayers for Dr. Bob—exclaimed that Bill Wilson was “manna from heaven.” She arranged for a reluctant Dr. Bob to meet with an eager Bill Wilson at her Gate Lodge home at Seiberling estate. Some six hours later, the two men emerged convinced that if they carried the message of conversion, of the medical incurability of alcoholism, and of the availability of the power of God, they could help others to recovery. Though Dr. Bob got drunk one more time and was nursed back to sobriety by Bill, Dr. Bob became determined to get well and help others; and he too never drank again. A.A. has dated its founding from the alleged date of Dr. Bob’s last drink—June 10, 1935. And within a matter of days, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith had carried their message to Akron attorney Bill Dotson—also a seemingly hopeless drunk. Dotson asked for God’s help and immediately recovered, marking the founding of the first A.A. group—Akron Number One. Bill had proclaimed to Dotson’s wife that the Lord had cured him of his terrible disease and that he just wanted to keep telling others about it. Bill Dotson said that this phrase had become the golden text of A.A. for him and others. The resultant recovery program involved several simple points, derived largely from Dr. Bob’s upbringing in St. Johnsbury, Vermont—a training not unlike the training Bill Wilson had received as a youth in East Dorset, Vermont. Almost all its basic ideas came from the Bible. It included: (1) Abstinence. (2) Reliance on the Creator and Christian conversion. (3) Obedience to God’s will by walking in love and eliminating sinful conduct. (4) Growing in fellowship with God through Bible study, prayer, seeking guidance, and study of literature. (5) Helping other alcoholics to get straightened out. To these five fundamentals were added a required initial hospitalization at Akron City Hospital, frequent housing at the homes of Bob and others, daily Quiet Time meetings with Anne Smith at Ardmore Avenue, and wide circulation of Christian literature as well as study of the Book of James, Jesus’ sermon on the mount, and 1 Corinthians 13. In about two years, about 50% of the first serious forty had achieved continuous sobriety; and another 25% accomplished the same after a relapse.
For more details, see the new title Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous http://www.dickb.com/titles.shtml.

dickb@dickb.com
http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml



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[dickb]

Elements of the Plan to Place Historical Materials about Dr. Bob’s Youth
in
St. Johnsbury, Vermont

• Bob’s “excellent training” in St. Johnsbury: A.A.’s cofounder Robert Holbrook Smith, M.D. (known as “Dr. Bob”) told AAs in his last major address: (1) I had “excellent training” in the “Good Book” as “a youngster.” (2) The basic ideas for the A.A. recovery program came from their study of the Good Book. (3) We believed the answer to our problems was in the Good Book.

• Never adequately researched until our visit: Despite this clear “invitation” to investigate exactly what Dr. Bob had learned in his boyhood training in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the quest for the facts had never been adequately undertaken until our recent visit to St. Johnsbury and subsequent research.

• Enormous treasures unearthed: Since our visit, we have devoted extensive time to researching St. Johnsbury, both on the Internet and through acquiring historical materials. The fruit has been the facts we have learned about the significance of Dr. Bob’s parents (Judge Walter and Mrs. Smith); their intense membership and involvement in the North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury; the teachings in the church’s Sunday School; and the activities of the church’s Christian Endeavor Society. There have been other evidentiary discoveries as to the involvement of the Smiths in St. Johnsbury Academy and the emphasis there on daily chapel, church attendance, Bible-readings, and Congregationalism. We also uncovered other influences from the Y.M.C.A.; the Vermont Missionary Society; the Caledonian Conference; the state Congregational Conferences; the “Great Awakening” of 1875; and the concurrent revivals, Gospel meetings, and conversions.

• Core library and explanatory volumes assembled: In the process of our research, we have acquired a large amount of historical materials including books, correspondence, reports, pamphlets, Year Books, catalogs, conference minutes, biographies, genealogies, histories, and Christian literature. This has produced a two-fold body of specific, St. Johnsbury-related historical materials: (1) A core library of the pertinent books and manuscripts; and (2) Some 20 binders containing excerpts from the historical materials.

• The three Dr. Bob titles in progress now: In addition, we have almost completed the first of three books on Dr. Bob: (1) Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, which details his excellent training and influences in St. Johnsbury; (2) An actual resource volume containing the binders; and (3) A biography to be completed in early 2008.

The Need, The Benefit, The Plan

• A permanent Historical Home and archive in St. Johnsbury: A.A. historical materials need a home with integrity, continuity, godliness, and a thorough understanding of the importance of preserving the history of early A.A.’s Christian and biblical roots, sources, history, and historical materials.

• Previous archival homes we have established: Here’s what our benefactors have enabled us to provide without charge to the recipient: (1) The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont (with all of the Bill Wilson and other A.A. historical materials); (2) St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron (with a limited library of Dr. Bob’s Christian activities in early A.A. and Akron); (3) Calvary Episcopal Church in New York (where some of A.A. “cofounder” Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s records are available); and (4) Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh (where all of Shoemaker’s books, available sermons and pamphlets, and papers we discovered from the Episcopal Church Archives in Texas) are now located. Not to attract visitors but to insure integrity, continuity, and availability.

• Locked, costly repositories don’t bless: History in library stacks, in locked bookshelves, in repositories which require a fee for admission and provide no area for copy and study is not history that advances the Christian recovery potential for those afflicted with alcoholism and addiction.

• St. Johnsbury should be the place: The attraction of St. Johnsbury as far as the history of Dr. Bob’s biblical and Christian training is as follows: (1) The Town is historically important and hospitable to visitors. (2) There are several key, accessible locations containing historical materials—North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, The Fairbanks Museum, Dr. Bob’s home on Summer Street, the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, and St. Johnsbury Academy. (3) The Congregational influence gives a new picture of the early Congregational influences on both Bill Wilson in the East Congregational Church in East Dorset, Vermont, and of Dr. Bob Smith in North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury. (4) There is no similar body of resources including the town, significant buildings, and informed docents in any of the other A.A. historical sites such as East Dorset, Bedford Hills (New York), A.A. General Service in New York City, Brown University in Rhode Island, and Dr. Bob’s Home in Akron.

• Existing potential, knowledgeable St. Johnsbury volunteers and guides, and docents: There are several local contacts that are Christians, AAs, and have a longstanding, altruistic concern for preserving and disseminating A.A.’s biblical history.

• North Congregational Church as an appropriate reliable core locus: Location of the core binders and small library at North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, will give them: (1) a home in close proximity to the other historical sites; (2) an emphasis on Dr. Bob’s Christian training and deep involvement in Congregationalism; (3) a place which would not be subject to irreligious or business diversions; and (4) a location where we will know our own 18 years of work on A.A.’s historical routes, great successes, and cures will be preserved.

• And now the Dr. Bob Core Library is established at North Congregational Church


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[dickb]

What A.A. Can Still Offer
from
Dr. Bob—“the Prince of All Twelfth Steppers”
Dick B.
© 2008 by Anonymous. All rights reserved

[Note: None can deny that many people in A.A. today have not had a drink and do not drink. Thus, if the statistics show that there is a 5% success rate among the 2 million members of A.A., you can say that there are 100,000 people who have neither had a drink or wanted a drink. These facts leave two questions: (1) Is that all the 100,000 people wish for their lives—“I didn’t have a drink today?” (2) Are we offering the estimated 18 million other alcoholics in America the same dismal “recovery?” Let’s see what A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob suggested for those who wanted a cure, not just dry abstinence; for those who wanted a godly life, not just one of attending meetings; and for those who wanted a relationship with God that promised eternal life, an abundant life, and health with prosperity.]

• Dr. Bob asked: “Do you believe in God, young fella?” You either did or you didn’t.

[Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, p. 144]

• “If someone asked him a question about the program, his usual response was: ‘What does it say in the Good Book?’”

[Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980, p. 144]

• Describing the program, Dr. Bob said: “When we started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions. But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book.”

[The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical sketches. Their last major talks, 1972, 1975, p. 13]

• On the last page of his personal story, Dr. Bob said: “If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. . . . Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”

[Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 2001, p. 181]

Today society is changing the solution and often says: “You need treatment.” But early AAs said clearly: “You need to find God” (4th ed., 59). They described the “miracle of healing” (4th ed., 57). And then “each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God” (4th ed., 29). Bill Wilson summed up what God will do when he related to Henrietta Dotson, the wife of A.A. Number Three: “Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people” (4th ed., 191). That’s what A.A. still can offer--a relationship with God! For those who want to be blessed with a Heavenly Father.

Please note: Early A.A. had a documented, 75% to 93% success rate among seemingly-hopeless, medically-incurable, real alcoholics who went to any lengths in trusting God and helping others.
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[dickb]

Why the New Dr. Bob Core Library at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and
How You Can Be a Part of Something Great
Dick B.
2008; dickb@dickb.com

• Why St. Johnsbury? Because there’s no place else you can go, see, look, study, learn, and pass info on.

• Because, piece by piece, our great history is becoming accessible, free, and useful. Dr. Bob’s part is due.

• Because precedent shows that a handful of benefactors made it possible to donate free to the Wilson House over 23,900 items of historical materials concerning all of A.A.; because two benefactors made it possible to donate free to Sam Shoemaker’s church in Pittsburgh all of the Shoemaker books and most of his significant correspondence; because several benefactors made it possible to donate free at least one copy of our historical books to every A.A. office in America; because similar gifts have made it possible to donate free historical materials to prisons, chaplains, archives, churches, sober clubs, and people, both afflicted and recovered, in U.S., Canada, England, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Mexico, and other places that wanted them. Precedent shows we can do it with reference to Dr. Bob and A.A.

• Because we believe the objective is to donate, free, without charge, our history to locations where you and anyone else can see it, copy it, study it, and verify it without charge and without undue travel; and that is where so many of our website activities have been pointed. The web is free. It is widely used. It reaches millions (for example, our main website has had over 3.5 million visits thus far from people who wanted what it had to offer). It will continue to grow in resources and outreach. Dr. Bob’s part is overdue.

What This Library Program at North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury is About

• We have devoted 18 years to travel, collecting, interviewing, visiting, studying, analyzing, and publicizing our history. But there is still one glaring hole!

• We’ve heard about Bill Wilson’s violin, his boomerang, the death of his first love, and his shortcomings. We’ve been flooded with a dozen biographies about Bill, and many of the recent ones are very good.

• We’ve no place to go to learn about the man Bill Wilson called “The Prince of All Twelfth Steppers.” We’ve no place to go to learn where he got the idea of “love and service.” We’ve no place to go to learn about the “excellent training” he received in the Good Book as a youngster. We’ve no place to go to learn where he was trained, how he was trained, and by whom he was trained. Or the role of his parents.

• Soon, if you help us, we will.

• We’ll have four new books about Dr. Bob. We’ll have thousands of pages of historical items about St. Johnsbury. About his parents (Judge Walter and Susan Smith). About his church (North Congregational Church). About his Sunday school. About the Christian Endeavor Society where he learned and practiced the specifics about prayer and Bible study that were so much a part of early A.A. About prayer meetings. About the Y.M.C.A. and its tremendous lay outreach in Vermont. About the distinguished Americans in the Fairchild family who inspired him. And about the immense influence on Bob of St. Johnsbury Academy, its daily chapel, it required church emphasis and Bible study.

• We’ll place 20 binders containing information you can see. We’ll place several dozen books detailing the genealogies, biographies, histories, libraries, programs, activities, and curricula of St. Johnsbury, North Congregational Church, Christian Endeavor Society, the YMCA, St. Johnsbury Academy, and the immense influence of Dr. Bob’s own family and that of the famous Fairchild people who left buildings, belief in the Creator, conversion to Jesus Christ, inspiration, and religious dedication to Vermont.

• Why a Dr. Bob Core Library at the North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont? Because the North Congregational Church pastor, archivist, and members have generously agreed to host this important body of resources. Because the church location is in the heart of the St. Johnsbury Dr. Bob knew and where he received his excellent training in the Bible as a youngster. Because the North Congregational Church was a major center for the Great Awakening of 1875 where the entire village opened its heart to revivals, evangelists, Gospel meetings, prayer meetings, lay YMCA volunteers, cooperation of Christian Endeavor Society after Dr. Bob was born, and the leadership of the famous Fairbanks family. Because all AAs should have free, open, unfettered access to the most important part of their early history—the roots of their reliance on Almighty God and their establishing their relationship with Him through accepting Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Because the library is being donated free to the church. Because the church is making no charges nor stipulations to those who want to visit. Because there is no cost to the visitors or the church. And Because the precious Dr. Bob history will be well stewarded by those who had the most to do with its inception.

http://DrBob.info







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[dickb]

A.A.’s Dr. Bob

The Truth I Wanted to Learn

Dick B.
© 2007 by Anonymous. All rights reserved

The Challenging Search For The Real Dr. Bob

When I first arrived in A.A. in the spring of 1986, if anyone had mentioned the name “Dr. Bob,” the remark would either have passed me by. Or I would have asked, “Who is he?” I didn’t know, and I hadn’t heard—and not for quite some time thereafter.

Then the young man, now dead of alcoholism, asked me if I knew A.A. had come from the Bible. When I answered, “No.” He suggested I read DR. BOB and the Good Old Timers and also remarked that the A.A. pioneers had been so interested in studying the Bible that they wanted to call A.A. “The James Club.” And I won’t repeat what I’ve since written about The Akron Genesis of A.A., The Good Book and The Big Book, Dr. Bob and His Library, The James Club, the AA of Akron pamphlets, and all the rest. But there was still a gaping hole in my knowledge of what Dr. Bob himself had meant when he said he had “refreshed” his memory of the Bible and had received “excellent training” in that as a youngster. He had also spoken of his four-times-a-week attendance at church, and also of his participation in Christian Endeavor.

This left me with many unanswered questions: What memory of the Bible did Dr. Bob bring with him to early A.A.? What training had he received in the Good Book as a youngster? Why did he call it “excellent training?” What had he really absorbed from all his church, Sunday school, prayer meeting, and Bible study attendance as a youngster? What did they do in Christian Endeavor? Where could I find all the facts about his youth? How much of his learning was translated to Akron A.A.’s pioneer Christian Fellowship? And—the bottom line—what could such information do for the alcoholic who still suffers?

Important Answers Were In St. Johnsbury, Vermont

I had been invited to conduct, and for eight different times did conduct, A.A. spiritual history seminars at the Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont. I had contributed many historical books, tapes, pamphlets, and manuscripts to the Griffith Library at the Wilson House. I had been there at its Grand Opening, when Ozzie Lepper was still alive. And I had recently researched and found a good deal of information about Bill Wilson’s religious training as a youngster, about his grandfather Willie’s conversion cure, and about the involvement of both the Griffith and the Wilson families in the little East Congregational Church that lies between the Griffith Library and the Wilson House.

But heart surgery complications in 2001, and economics, had prevented my visit to Dr. Bob’s birthplace and boyhood home in St. Johnsbury. Being unable to go there myself, I asked three different groups of dedicated A.A. history seekers to go to St. Johnsbury and see what they could find and report. Each of these three groups came away empty handed. Part of this was due to their lack of knowledge about what to look for and where to find it. Part of this was due to the fact that there simply was and is nothing of significance at Dr. Bob’s actual home that would inform people about Dr. Bob and his family. That had been the case for years and years.

So, a month or so ago, my son Ken and I went to St. Johnsbury, Vermont. We met with the people managing the boyhood home. We scoped out the places of Dr. Bob’s youth; and we were able to interview the minister of North Congregational Church and obtain some records. We sought out his birth certificate. We were helped immeasurably with our research by the archivist at St. Johnsbury Academy. We acquired some books and literature. And we went to the Town Library—called the Athenaeum. We were helped there. As we looked at records and pictures, we realized we had lots and lots of research work to do on our return to Maui.

My son Ken has since been applying his extraordinary talents in the internet research field. And from these efforts, we have obtained all kinds of records about North Congregational Church, its Sunday School, its Christian Endeavor Society, the Fairbanks family who were deeply involved in its founding and service through the years, and the activities of Dr. Bob and his family in that church. We have also obtained some well researched and written books about the church, its members, its revivals, and the service of the Smiths as superintendents of Sunday school, Sunday school teachers, historians, missionary workers, music participation, and women’s events.

There’s more at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium across the street. There’s still more at the Town Hall and Court House where Judge Walter P. Smith (Bob’s father) served. There are biographies, bibliographies, and histories galore at the Athenaeum which the Fairbanks people donated to the Town. There is information about the YMCA and YMCA building (now destroyed by fire), its Christian outreach with revivals, conversions, and Gospel meetings. Also about offices held in the “Y” by Judge Smith and many a Fairbanks.

The St. Johnsbury Academy is a treasure trove. Records show pictures of Dr. Bob and of him in his graduating class; notices about him and the Glee Club which he managed and in which he sang; class notes about him; mention of his membership in the Adelphian Literary Society; mention of debates in which he held forth; and his graduation program—where he was Orator. Moreover the Judge conducted exams for the school. And Bob’s mother had attended there, graduated there, taught there, been on the alumni executive committee, delivered a history address, and wrote two chapters of the official Academy history. There are lots more details about the Fairbanks influence, required Daily chapel, required church attendance and Bible study, and Christian textbooks.

The lid has barely been opened. We are still researching and receiving information from the state historical society, the state Congregational (UCC) headquarters, the YMCA, the archivists, the books and histories, and the writings of those involved in the revivals, evangelistic events, Gospel meetings, and conversions.



What’s the Point?

It’s worth a comment that, until we recently published The Conversion of Bill W., there was a general misreporting to the effect that there was nothing to report about Bill’s youth. Of course, we discovered Bill’s grandfather had been converted and cured. Bill’s grandparents on both sides had attended the East Dorset Congregational Church and participated in it. Bill himself had attended and been enrolled in its Sunday school. Bill and his grandfather Fayette had read the Bible. Bill had studied the Bible with his friend Mark. Bill had attended temperance and revival meetings. And, as a student at Burr and Burton Academy, Bill had—like Dr. Bob—attended Daily Chapel.

It’s hardly relevant to A.A. work that some of us have read about Bill’s boomerang, about his deceased childhood girlfriend Bertha, about his violin, about his depressions, about family split-ups, and about his encounter with Swedenborgians. But Bill’s conversion at the Mission and his conversion story have been distorted or omitted or ignored. Yet the latter points went to the heart of Bill’s early A.A. convictions about the solution and cure of alcoholism.

The facts pertaining to Dr. Bob are far more relevant to the cure of alcoholism. For it was what Dr. Bob learned in St. Johnsbury as a youngster that had everything to do with the form and shape and content of the early A.A. program in Akron and its astonishing documented 75% to 93% success rate among seemingly hopeless, medically incurable, real alcoholics who thoroughly followed the Akron path to a relationship with God – and cure!

What’s Next?

You’ll learn what’s next as we go along. But here’s a preview. We are assembling and have about completed a 20 volume “core library” of information about the whole Dr. Bob boyhood, training, and activities in St. Johnsbury. As with all the materials we placed in the Wilson House, these will constitute the research base which documents our articles, talks, and books. We have now completed the first of two books about Dr. Bob. Excerpts from draft chapters of the first book were distributed to history fellowship members and others and also posted on our new Dr. Bob website (http://www.DrBob.info). The first book—a resource book--will focus on the St. Johnsbury facts and Dr. Bob’s youth. The second book in the works will be the long-awaited accurate biography of Dr. Bob. It will supplement what has already been done in my own titles like Dr. Bob and His Library, The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, The Good Book and The Big Book, Anne Smith’s Journal, 1933-1939, Henrietta Seiberling, When Early AAs Were Cured and Why, Real Twelve-Step Fellowship History, and The James Club. It will also flesh out the blank spots in DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers and RHS.

The Expanded Vision

The spring of 2008 brought a complete new vision of St. Johnsbury’s importance. We had completed the resource volume Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous, and it was available for our use, for wide distribution to historians and scholars, and for purchase by the public. Our original thought was that the second volume would consist of a set of binders—to be placed in the church--;which would contain our findings on each of the important historical facets in St. Johnsbury that related to A.A. and its primary purpose. These were the details about Dr. Bob’s own family, his church, his Sunday school, the church prayer meetings, the Christian Endeavor Society of the church, the YMCA’s input, the leadership of the Fairbanks family, and the resources at the Fairbanks Museum and the Athenaeum (town library), and the immense resources at St. Johnsbury Academy.

Then as we researched we realized the potential for visitors—recovering and otherwise. Within a very few blocks of each other were Dr. Bob’s birthplace and boyhood home, his elementary school, the North Congregational Church, the Fairbanks Museum, the Athenaeum, the Court House, the former YMCA location, the Fairbanks Scales plant, and the St. Johnsbury Academy archives, library, and campus. Unlike so many reservoirs of history, these are conveniently close to each other, open to the public, filled with history, accessible, free, and filled with qualified curators, archivists, and librarians. There is nothing like it in the A.A. history world. Nothing!
Moreover, St. Johnsbury is not far from Burr & Burton Academy where Bill Wilson matriculated. It is not far from East Dorset, Vermont, where Bill Wilson’s family worshipped at the East Congregational Church there. And it is not far from the well stocked and stewarded A.A. history library at the Griffith Library which is owned, stewarded, and maintained by the Wilson House volunteers.

All this added up to an accompanying “annotated” picture book that would memorialize the history and guide visitors, researchers, and historians through the entire, lovely scene. A Vermont filled with important American historical sites, charming inns, Fall Leaves activities, winter sports, covered bridges, and all the rest. Here is a place where visitors can find good places of lodging, good eateries, and beautiful sites as they learn about A.A.’s two founding Vermonters.

When that’s done, we’ll complete the long overdue, full and accurate biography of Dr. Bob himself. And all these resources will be available in St. Johnsbury, and most probably on the internet—visually, audibly, and in text form.

You will also begin seeing additional parts of this article; pictures of the whole St. Johnsbury scene and of Dr. Bob and his family; additional book excerpts; and audio talks covering the subject. Stay tuned!
Gloria Deo
http://www.dickb.com/index.shtml
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