Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led mutual-aid fellowship supporting abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA’s Twelve Traditions, besides stressing anonymity and the lack of a governing hierarchy, establish AA as free to all, non-professional, unaffiliated, and non-denominational, as well as apolitical. Founded in mid-20th-century United States, in 2020 AA reported over two million members, with 75% in the U.S. and Canada.
Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded by Bill Wilson and Bob Smith, aided its membership to overcome alcoholism. Since that time dozens of other organizations have been derived from AA's approach to address problems as varied as drug addiction, compulsive gambling, sex, and overeating. All twelve-step programs utilize a version of AA's suggested twelve steps first published in the 1939 book Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism.
Robert Holbrook Smith, also known as Dr. Bob, was an American physician and surgeon who cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson.
William Griffith Wilson, also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with Bob Smith.
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. He also believed that the solution to living without fear and selfishness was to "surrender one's life over to God's plan". It featured surrender to Jesus Christ by sharing with others how lives had been changed in the pursuit of four moral absolutes: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.
The Richard Nixon Birthplace is the birthplace and early childhood home of Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. It is located on the grounds of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, and serves as a historic house museum.
Lois Wilson, also known as Lois W., was the co-founder of Al-Anon Family Groups, a 12-Step fellowship for the friends and family of alcoholics. She was the wife of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) co-founder Bill W. They both followed their respective groups' tradition of anonymity until The New York Times revealed their full names upon Bill's death in 1971. However, she continued to be known as Lois W. within Al-Anon until her death.
Samuel Moor Shoemaker III DD, STD was a priest of the Episcopal Church. Samuel Shoemaker was considered one of the best preachers of his era, whose sermons were syndicated for distribution by tape and radio networks for decades. He founded Faith At Work magazine in 1926. He served as the rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City from 1925 to 1952. He was the head of the United States headquarters of the Oxford Group and later of the Moral Re-Armament which the Oxford Group became in 1938, from circa 1927 until circa 1941. From 1952 to 1962, he served as the rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He retired in 1962 and died the following year. Sam Shoemaker's interdenominational focus and the Oxford Group were significant influences for the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) who met through the Oxford Group. Bill Wilson attended Oxford Group meetings at Calvary Church from late 1934 to circa 1939. Sam Shoemaker helped start an Oxford Group chapter in Akron, Ohio, where Dr. Bob Smith became involved.
Margaret Marty Mann was an American writer who is considered by some to be the first woman to achieve longterm sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Mary Ignatia Gavin, C.S.A., was an Irish-born American Religious Sister, better known as Sister Ignatia, belonging to the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, who served as a nurse. In the course of her work she became involved in the care of those suffering from alcoholism, working with Bob Smith, a co-founder of what became Alcoholics Anonymous. In this work she became known as the alcoholic's "Angel of Hope".
Stepping Stones is the historic home of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson and his wife, co-founder of Al-Anon/Alateen Lois Wilson, in Bedford Hills, New York. The historic site features their house ; Bill W.'s writing studio, nicknamed "Wit's End"; approximately 15,000 objects left by the Wilsons; a water pump house; the original one-car garage; a two-car garage and Welcome Center with an orientation display highlighting some of the 100,000 items in the Stepping Stones Archives; a flower garden; a community vegetable garden; and more. Lois left the property to The Stepping Stones Foundation - the nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that she founded in 1979. Since Mrs. Wilson's death in 1988 the Stepping Stones Foundation has maintained and preserved the site with the help of friends, and has offered on-site tours by reservation and off-site educational programs.
Rowland Hazard III was an American businessman and member of a prominent Rhode Island family involved in the foundation and executive leadership of a number of well-known companies. He is also known as the "Rowland H." who figured in the events leading to the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The Lewis Miller Cottage is a historic house at Whitfield and Vincent Avenues, on the grounds of the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York. Built in 1875, it was the residence of Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua movement. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 21, 1965.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global fellowship founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Robert Smith, and has since grown to be worldwide.
Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital, also known as Walthill Hospital or Dr. Susan Picotte Memorial Hospital, is a former hospital building at 505 Matthewson Street in Walthill, Nebraska, on the Omaha Indian Reservation. The hospital was developed by Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte (1865–1915), the first female Native American medical doctor. Built with money raised by Picotte from various sources, it was the first hospital for any Indian reservation not funded by government money. It served the community as a hospital until the 1940s, and has had a variety of other uses since. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.
The Bill Wilson House is a historic 19th-century hotel at 378 Village Street in East Dorset, Vermont, United States. Built in 1852, it is the birthplace and living memorial of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson. With 14 guestrooms and a conference room the non-profit bed and breakfast is a center for recovery seminars and regular AA and ALANON meetings. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
The Grant Boyhood Home is a historic house museum at 219 East Grant Avenue in Georgetown, Ohio. Built in 1823, it was where United States President and American Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant (1822–85) lived from 1823 until 1839, when he left for the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1976, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nine years later, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. It is now owned by a local nonprofit organization as part of a suite of Grant-related museum properties in Georgetown.
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism is a 1939 basic text, describing how to seek recovery from alcoholism. The Big Book was written by William G. "Bill W." Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, with the help of various editors. The composition process was not collaborative other than editing. Bill wrote all of the chapters except for "To Employers" which was written by Bill's right-hand man, Hank Parkhurst. Parkhurst influenced the more liberal notions of "God as we understand him" and "your own conception of God." Drafts of sections were sent back and forth between Bill W.'s group in New York and Robert Holbrook Smith, the other AA founder, in Akron, Ohio. Dr. Bob made no major changes. It is the predecessor of the seminal "twelve-step method" widely used to treat many addictions, from alcoholism, heroin addiction and marijuana addiction to overeating, sex addiction and gambling addiction, with a strong spiritual and social emphasis. It is one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold 30 million copies. In 2011, Time magazine placed the book on its list of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923, the year in which the magazine was first published. In 2012, the Library of Congress designated it as one of 88 "Books that Shaped America."
Summa St. Thomas Hospital was a former orthopedic and psychiatric hospital located in Akron, Ohio. The hospital opened in 1922 and was originally operated by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine as a non-denominational, non-profit general hospital. In 1989, St. Thomas Hospital merged with Akron City Hospital to become Summa Health System. The emergency room was closed in 2014, and the hospital was closed in 2023. Demolition of the site commenced June 17, 2024 and is projected to be complete by the end of calendar year 2024.
Henrietta McBrayer Buckler Seiberling was a member of a Christian fellowship group named the Oxford Group. Seiberling is well-known for connecting the two men who would found Alcoholics Anonymous.
