Alcoholics Anonymous History with Dick
B. and Ken B.
Vermont Roots Workshop Meetings:
September 2-9, 2012
Tentative Agenda Items
By Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
September 2-3: Sheraton Burlington, Burlington, Vermont
Sunday evening, September
2
·
Get-acquainted gathering for those who will be
traveling with us to St. Johnsbury on Monday morning, September 3.
·
Review of resources to be used:
o
Dick B. and Ken B., Bill W. and Dr. Bob: Green Mountain Men of Vermont (2012—new!)
o
Dick B. and Ken B., A.A. Literature Frequently Mentioning God, His Son Jesus Christ &
the Bible: The Long-Overlooked Big Book Personal Stories (2012—new!);
o
Dick B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His Excellent Training in the Good
Book as a Youngster in Vermont;
o
Dick B., The
Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator’s Role in Early A.A.;
o
Alcoholics
Anonymous: The Original 1939 Edition (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2011):
http://goo.gl/5fPLB;
and
o
The Early Manuscripts
at Stepping Stones, compiled by Dick B. (Kihei, HI; August 2012).
·
Suggestions and questions from participants.
·
Kickoff gathering before leaving for St.
Johnsbury.
September 3-6: Comfort Inn & Suites, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Monday, September 3
·
Get-acquainted gathering for those who will be
involved in the St. Johnsbury events.
·
Review of evidence obtained, evidence available,
and suggestions from participants
·
Suggested agenda: Discussion of a tour of St.
Johnsbury:
o
The St. Johnsbury Academy and its archives;
o
The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum (library);
o
The courthouse in St. Johnsbury;
o
The former location of the St. Johnsbury Young
Men’s Christian Association building on Eastern Avenue in St. Johnsbury
o
North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, and
its “Dr. Bob Core Library;”
o
The Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury; and
o
Dr. Bob’s birthplace and boyhood home on Summer
Street.
Tuesday, September 4:
·
Morning gathering.
·
Tour of St. Johnsbury: Noon A.A. meeting at Dr.
Bob’s house (optional).
·
Special questions about St. Johnsbury still
pending or to be investigated.
·
Panel workshop reviewing:
o
“The Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury;
o
Conversions and transformations;
o
The Fairbanks family;
o
The Smith family;
o
The importance of North Congregational Church,
St. Johnsbury;
o
The importance of the Young Men’s Christian
Association in St. Johnsbury;
o
The importance of the United Society of Christian
Endeavor;
o
The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum resources; and
o
The St. Johnsbury Academy library and archives.
·
Evening gathering and review.
Wednesday, September
5:
·
Morning gathering.
·
Special interests, questions, and desired
investigations by participants.
·
Dedication of “Dr. Bob’s Core Library.”
·
Evening gathering and review.
Thursday, September 6:
·
Special trip to Northfield, Vermont, and then to
Northfield, Massachusetts (on the way to Manchester:
o
Norwich Military Academy in Northfield, Vermont
(where Bill attended school); and
o
Northfield, Massachusetts: birthplace, boyhood
home, and home in later of life of Dwight L. Moody; site of the Moody schools
for young girls and boys; home of the Moody Bible conference, and location
where the Student Volunteer movement began.
September 6-8: Avalanche Motel, Manchester, Vermont
[Manchester is the location of: (a) Burr and Burton Seminary
(now Burr and Burton Academy), where Bill attended school; (b) First
Congregational Church (where Ebby Thacher boarded with its minister, Rev.
Sidney K. Perkins), (c) Zion Episcopal Church (where the father of Bill’s girl
friend, Bertha Bamford, was Rector); (d) the Thacher family summer home; (e)
the Burnham family summer home; (f) the Manchester Courier newspaper; (g) the Manchester Historical Society; and (g)
the Manchester libraries.]
Friday, September 7:
·
Morning gathering to review evidence and hear
what’s already been unearthed; decisions on which places various participants
are willing to search.
·
Questions about Burr and Burton Seminary, First Congregational
Church records, Rev. Perkins records, newspapers and library and archive
records. (Neal Britner will have some ideas and reports based on his many years
of research in Manchester.)
·
Visits, if desired, to Burr and Burton, the Congregational
and Episcopal churches, the libraries, and the Manchester Historical Society.
·
Visits, if desired, to the Rowland Hazard home
in Glastenbury, Vermont.
·
Panel workshop with questions, answers,
evidence, suggestions on the entire
Wilson-Thacher-Hazard-Cornell-Graves-Bamford picture.
·
Evening gathering.
Saturday, September 8:
Morning gathering to plan agenda.
·
Visit, if desired, to The Wilson House, the Griffith
House Library (to which Dick B. donated hundreds of his research books and
thousands of pages of documents and other historically-important items), and/or
the East Dorset Cemetery.
·
Visit planned to Rutland to check out the Grace Congregational
Church, data on the time the Gilman and Emily Wilson family spent in Rutland,
the city newspaper, the city’s historical society, and library records of the Wilsons:
including church and United Society of Christian Endeavor links, if any.
·
Leave for Burlington in the late afternoon.
September 8-9: Sheraton Burlington, Burlington, Vermont
Saturday evening,
September 8:
·
Possible evening gathering for preliminary
review of Northfield, Manchester, East Dorset, and Rutland lessons.
Sunday, September 9:
·
Morning gathering to review workshops, evidence,
utilization of findings.
·
Trip to University of Vermont Library to scout
out additional evidence.
·
[Sunday evening, around 5:00 pm:] Dick B. and
Ken B. depart from Burlington Airport Sunday evening.
