Vermont
A.A.’s Treasure House of Christian
Beginnings
A Project of International Christian Recovery Coalition
By Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
In Appreciation and in Summary
We all deeply appreciate the effort and devotion of A.A.
Archivist Jim H. of Auburn, Washington. Jim traveled and researched with us,
and drove us around Vermont to St. Johnsbury, Northfield, Manchester, East
Dorset, Rutland, Emerald Lake, and Burlington. He also drove us to Gill,
Massachusetts, where the Moody Mount Hermon School is located. Jim took
pictures and even some video throughout our trip, and has now posted on the Web
hundreds of pictures of cities, towns, schools, churches, academies, libraries,
books, articles, pamphlets, wall plaques, photos, histories, manuscripts,
newspapers, participants, hotels, motels, restaurants, and inns in every place
our cadre of recovery leaders and workers held workshops. There are still more
photos to be gathered from participants. There is still processing in progress
and work to be done on labels. But Jim’s efforts constitute the greatest single
assemblage of visual history of the role God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the
Bible played in the origins, history, founding, original program, and
astonishing successes in Alcoholics Anonymous history and the Christian
Recovery Movement in New England. Those photographed items show the stage set
for the Christian upbringing of A.A. cofounders as well as the “Christian fellowship”
they founded in Akron, Ohio, in June, 1935.
Preliminary Presentation of Vermont Historical Slide Show Photographs
Among the Historical Pictures Included
As indicated, there is lots of work still to be done in
labeling, describing, identifying, etc. And there are many more photos to be
added from the work of other Workshop participants.
The following subjects and others are or will be included:
Burlington, Vermont: our arrival and kickoff of the
workshops on Sept. 2.
St. Johnsbury, Vermont: center of Dr. Bob’s boyhood
Christian upbringing, Sept. 3-5
Fairbanks
Inn--many historical photos
Fairbanks
Scales Plant--many photos and paintings
Fairbanks
family members, homes, patents, and gifts
Dr. Bob’s
boyhood home at 20 Summer Street (now 297 Summer Street)
Summer
Street School--where Dr. Bob attended
North
Congregational Church--where the Smith family attended
Pictures
of participants with Pastor Jay Sprout
Pictures
of the Dr. Bob Core Library and the resource binder subjects
Pictures
at dedication of the library by Pastor Sprout
Pictures
of the sanctuary, baptismal font, pews, organ, pulpit, and windows
Pictures
of the church itself--located on Main Street
Fairbanks
Museum--location of thousands of historical records, papers, and manuscripts
Young Men’s Christian Association
building and activities (building destroyed by later
fire)
Courthouse
where Bob’s father, Judge Walter P. Smith, was Probate Judge
Firehouse
and public offices across the street--where we obtained Bob’s birth certificate
Athenaeum--beautiful
library containing newspapers on microfilm and many items
St.
Johnsbury Academy and Grace Orcutt Library
Photos of
workshop participants and the restaurant where they dined together.
Village
Welcome Center and new location of Town Offices
Panoramic views of village, signs,
and well-known historical locations including banks,
hotels, and railroad
The importance,
significance, influence, and activities involving the “Great Awakening” of 1875
in St. Johnsbury, Evangelists, the YMCA, the Salvation Army, Congregationalism,
churches, and the United Society of Christian Endeavor are thoroughly covered
and documented in Dick B. and Ken B., Dr.
Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good Book as a
Youngster in Vermont; and their new book, Bill W. and Dr. Bob, The Green Mountain Boys of Vermont: The Roots of
Early A.A.’s Original Program
Northfield, Vermont--location of Norwich Military Academy
attended by Bill W. and Ebby Thacher--September
6
Kreitzberg Library--filled with
pictures, plaques pamphlets, records, books, histories,
curricula,
religious emphasis, chapel data, and more.
More data
pertaining to Bill W. still to arrive.
Gill, Massachusetts--location of Dwight L. Moody schools and
Mount Hermon home—Sept. 6
Schauffler
Library--filled with archives and books about the schools, the teachers, Vermont
people and evangelists and students who attended, visited, taught, or spoke. YMCA
activities; Christian Endeavor; school news; and Moody speeches and events
Place where Dr. Bob’s foster sister,
Amanda Carolyn Northrop, taught,
Place where Professor Henry
Drummond taught and delivered his famous talk on
1
Corinthians 13. Extensive material by him.
Place where Colonel Franklin
Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury frequently visited, held
meetings, and
became a trustee of the school
Place where F. B. Meyer, the
evangelist and Christian Endeavor-YMCA leader spoke.
Place where Dr. Robert E. Speer,
author of The Principles of Jesus
(origin of A.A.’s Four
Absolutes),
taught and later became Vice President.
“Launching pad” from which Dwight
L. Moody and his partner Ira Sankey visited and
held revivals and meetings in
Burlington, St. Johnsbury, and other Vermont locations.
Manchester, Vermont--Sept
7-8
Location of
Burr and Burton Seminary, attended by Bill Wilson, Ebby Thacher, Bill’s
girl-friend Bertha
Bamford, and Reverend Perkins’s son Roger.
Location of
the home of Rev. Sidney K. Perkins, pastor of the First Congregational
Church where Ebby boarded with
Rev. Perkins and got to know his son Roger quite well.
Location of
First Congregational Church of Manchester, where Burr and Burton “scholars”
(i.e., students) attended each Sunday and for special events; and whose members
actually help found the East Dorset Congregational Church where Bill Wilson and
his family attended.
Location of the huge Burnham
“summer home,” where Lois Burnham, her brother
Rogers, her father
Dr. Clark Burnham, and other family members lived half of
the year as “summer people” and
then went on to spend much time at their bungalows at Emerald Lake, Vermont
(quite near East Dorset) where Bill met Lois and became engaged to her, and
where the Thacher family became good friends.
Location of the
adjacent, large, George Thacher “summer home,” where the Thacher family (including
Ebby Thacher) lived half of the year; where Ebby got to know his Oxford Group
mentors Rowland Hazard, Shep Cornell, and Cebra Graves; and where the Thachers
also summered at Emerald Lake near the Burnham bungalows.
The Manchester Journal newspaper contains
many articles about these personalities
The Mark Skinner
Library is where our workshop people did a good deal of research on Manchester,
Burr and Burton, the Congregational Church, Bill Wilson, Rev. Perkins, and the
Burnhams, Thachers, and Bamfords.
Zion Episcopal
Church, where Bertha Bamford’s father was rector; where there is a memorial
plaque about Bertha and her death; and where Bill Wilson and Roger Perkins were
pall bearers at Bertha Bamford’s funeral.
The Manchester
period, people, and events are well covered in the Dick B. and Ken B. Book, Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Boys
of Vermont; Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the
Creator’s Role in Early A.A.; and some excellent histories of Burr and
Burton, First Congregational Church, and Vermont people.
East Dorset and Emerald Lake, Vermont—Sept. 7 and 8
The East Dorset
Congregational Church, the Wilson House, the Griffith House and Library, and nearby
Mount Aeolus all played important roles in the Christian upbringing of Bill
Wilson, the church and Bill’s parents, the church and Bill’s grandparents, and
the Sunday school itself, as well as Bill’s Bible studies with his maternal grandfather
(Gardner Fayette Griffith) and his friend Mark Whalon.
The events are
well covered in Dick B., The Conversion
of Bill W.; and Dick B. and Ken B., Bill
W. and Dr. Bob, the Green Mountain Boys, as well as Dick B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd
ed. (2010).
More photos
and reports are yet to come.
Rutland, Vermont—Sept.
8
This is the town
to which Bill’s parents, Bill, and his sister moved and where they lived from
about 1902 to 1905.
We have photos of the Wilson home
on Chestnut Street, the Longfellow School where
Bill attended.
We also have
photos of the nearby Grace Congregational Church and are working with its
pastor and others to see if there are records of attendance or activity by any of
the Wilsons during the period of their Rutland residence.
Burlington, Vermont—Sept.
9: We researched extensively at the Bailey Howe Library on the Central
Campus of the University of Vermont at Burlington. The library contains a wide
variety historical records on Moody, Congregational Churches, and other
locations.
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