AREA 83 ARCHIVES
e
March 2007
Upcoming Events:
Ottawa— My Name is Bill W. 4th Annual
Spring Event. Presented by Ottawa AA
Archives Committee as a Fundraising
Activity to which all are welcome. exhibits
and refreshments will be served. Souper
Jazz plays the Dixieland music of the
1920s. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19th,
2007. MacHall, Bronson Centre, 211
Bronson Avenue. Ottawa, Ontario K1R
6H5. $10.00. Info: Gord H. 613-224-9049 or
Janet C. 613-443-5948
Toronto—23rd Annual Archives Breakfast.
November 4, 2007. 9:00-12:00 Speaker:Amy
Filiatreau. 1036 Lakeshore Road E. Contact
Roy R. (905) 274-4511. $25
Hamilton —9th Annual Hamilton &
District Archives Breakfast. Sunday April
29, 2007. Carmen’s Banquet Centre (Stone
Church Rd. E.) Speaker, Gale L., Akron
Archivist. For more information call (905)
522-8399.
From the Desk of the Area Archivist
It is so encouraging to hear about so much archival activity in
Area 83 even with the rotation of Area and District officers.
Peterborough continues to be active in recording oral histo-
ries and data basing their collection. Their traveling and per-
manent displays are a real inspiration. Ottawa has reshuffled
its committee to take on a new archivist while maintaining
the activity of its elder statesman. Toronto’s committee is in
full swing with an almost full slate of District Archives chairs
learning about their new responsibilities. Districts through-
out the Area are enthusiastically recording oral histories and-
collecting group histories. Let ‘The 83’ know what your Dis-
trict is doing!
With the new term and new people in new positions, we will
continue to provide the best information possible to make
your service journey rewarding and fulfilling. At the Assem-
bly in the Frontenac Room, mini seminars will be held in be-
tween workshops. These 10 minute mini-seminars will cover
a broad range of topics from encapsulating documents, work-
ing with paper, digitizing audio material, preserving photo-
graphs, handling and conserving fabrics, oral histories, group
histories, and any other subject that you need information on
to fulfill your functions as an archives chair or archivist.
The OGS and Archives in Ontario
The Ontario General Service Committee which began in 1951,
with the trial of the Conference, was the predecessor of the Area
Committee in Ontario’s General Service structure. It became an
institution for almost 20 years though its name changed in 1979 to
the Ontario Provincial Committee (OPC) to distinguish it from the
Areas and their service committees. When Ontario was a single
area, and even for periods of time after Area divisions, the OGS
took care of the coordination of AA service in Ontario. As the
Areas began to emerge [Western Ontario 1957 with Lee G. as first
delegate, Eastern Ontario 1963, Northern Ontario 1963 with Jack
K. assuming responsibilities that were being done by Al B., North-
western and Northeastern Ontario Areas were created in 1967 with
Vern C. and Bob McC. respectively on Panel 17] each Area organ-
ized its own Area Committee but Eastern Ontario relied upon the
OGS for its administrative work.
In 1978-79 An Ad Hoc Committee was struck to discuss the over-
lap of services being performed by the OGS and the various Areas.
It was the beginning of the end of the OGS as it was construed in
1951. It was recommended and decided that Area 83 Eastern On-
tario International become self-supporting and that the OGS be
renamed the Ontario Provincial Committee to better reflect its
nature and to minimize confusion about responsible service enti-
ties.
The Archives Workbook published by the GSO provides a
wealth of information for the newly initiated to the well sea-
soned A.A. history buff. Look at the GOS Archives website
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_gso_archives.cfm
The current workbook is soon to become archival itself as the
57th General Service Conference Archives Committee has on
its agenda a review of the workbook that promises to bring
about significant changes id all of the Trustees Committee on
Archives recommendations are accepted by the Conference.
There are other sources of information available on line. The
Archives Association of Ontario website (http://
aao.fis.utoronto.ca/index.html) also provides a host of links
for the professional and novice archivist. Have a look at the
Archives Association of British Columbia’s website on Small
Archives for a real treat in access to more information that is
easily and legally downloadable (http://aabc.ca/msa/) .
With this volume of ‘The Eighty-Three’ we have brought you
a little history of the Area. More will be revealed with each
volume. If you have any questions at all about anything to do
with Archives just contact me, Máire O’B at
maire.obrien@sympatico.ca
i ghty – Thr e
The E
Volume 3, No. 1
March 2007
Area 83 Archives Newsletter
AREA 83 ARCHIVES
Nell Wing
March 2007
[From a June 1994 Grapevine article] “Nine
It is with great sad- years after the Fellowship of Alcoholics
ness that we share the Anonymous began in Akron, Ohio, the
Inside this issue: news that Nell Wing Grapevine magazine published its first issue
died on Wednesday, in June 1944. Three years after that, Nell
February 14, 2007 at Wing arrived in New York. A young woman
Digitizing Audio 2 7:00 p.m. after a in her late twenties, Nell had decided to go
Project: District 30 lengthy illness. Nell to Mexico to pursue a career in sculpture. In
was 89 years old. the meantime, she wanted a temporary job to
Ottawa’s Movie 3
earn a little more money for the journey. The
Night As most of you know, Nell was Bill W.'s agency where she applied for a temporary
secretary and assistant for 17 years and a
Toronto’s Archives 3 job told her about an opening at the head-
Breakfast
close friend and long-time companion to quarters office of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Lois W. She worked at the General Service Nell knew about AA, having read Morris
Events 4 Office of A.A. from the beginning of 1947 Markey's article "Alcoholics and God" in the
Note from the 4 until her retirement at the close of 1982, September 1939 Liberty magazine, and
Archivist starting as a receptionist and later becoming through other magazine articles in the early
secretary of A.A. World Services, forties, as well.
Ontario General 4 Inc. Additionally, she served as G.S.O.'s first
Service (OGS) archivist for the last ten of her years at the In 1947, she started working in the office of
office. The Archives opened in 1975. the Alcoholic Foundation (now the General
Service Office), and in 1950 became Bill
We would like to take a moment to celebrate W.'s secretary. Within a few years, she be-
Of Special Interest Nell's life and share the following: came close friends with Bill and his wife,
• Nell Wing Lois, and on weekends she regularly went up
From Markings, November/December 1983, to Stepping Stones, their home in Bedford
• Digitizing Audio Collec- when Nell announced her retirement in print: Hills, New York, to help Bill with corre-
tions "…I hope to stay nearby; and never lessen spondence or research, or just to keep him
• The OGS
interest in this fellowship, nor loosen the and Lois company.
close bonds of friendship with my A.A. and
Al-Anon friends. I'm forever grateful for this After Bill died in 1971, Nell continued her
marvelous experience that began for me on close association with the General Service
March 3, 1947, at 415 Lexington Ave., New Office and with Lois. She organized the AA
York City, in 3 small rooms of the Central Archives, and in 1993 published a memoir
Terminal Building. I have enjoyed and treas- called Grateful to Have Been There ...”
ured every moment of it. I won't say
Contributions to “The 83” to `goodbye:' just want to extend my love and
maire.obrien@sympatico.ca
She will ever remain the beacon of Archives
thanks to each one of you dear friends." for those of us endeavoring to preserve our
history and heritage.
Page 2 The Eighty – Three Volume 3, No. 1 Page 3

Digitizing audio collections: District 30’s Recent Project
District 30 is actively proceeding in gathering any items of inter-
est to our District Archives. We have embarked on a project of
recording as many ‘Longtimers’ interviews as possible and cur-
rently have the reflections of 34 longtimers totaling over 867
years of sobriety in our district. Additionally, we have re-
cordings of a couple of current members 30 year medallions, the
50 Year anniversary of the Cobourg Group with Father Pete
speaking from 2002, a double medallion from 1976 in Port Hope
with the voices of some of our originating members like Ted H,
Ted R, Neil M, past delegate Roly P, etc. We also have digitized
a recording of a 5 year medallion for Jack L. with Rene D. as the
speaker, originally recorded in the late 70’s. Numerous other
‘old tapes’ have been submitted for digitizing and preserving as
well as other items of interest to our district history. This is an
ongoing project that is gaining momentum in District 30 as more
of our members jump on board and ‘clean their closets’. The
words of Carl Sandberg ring true as we proceed with this inter-
esting and fascinating project:“Whenever a society or civiliza-
tion perishes there is always one condition present; they forgot
where they came from.” --- Carl Sandberg.
roughly digitized into the computer since we never know if
this is the ‘last play’ of this tape because some are quite frag-
ile. Once the recording (both sides) is complete I save it as
a .WAV file on the computer and the original tape is ready for
retirement.
Basically what we have at this point is a digitized recording of
an original cassette in .WAV format which can be copied, du-
plicated or burned to CD’s (playable on any CD player) as
often as we wish… BUT… (in typical alcoholic fashion) I go a
step further and fire up another piece of software called a
“Wave Editor” where I can see a wave form of the entire re-
cording. This wave form is a visual display and shows the
“Whenever a society or civiliza tion
perishes there is always one condition present;
they forgot where they came from.”
--- Carl Sandberg
Toronto receives the GSO’s New Archivist at 23rd Breakfast
The Archives Committee of Toronto is hosting its 23rd An-
nual Archives Breakfast on November 4, 2007 at the Oasis
Convention Centre on Lakeshore Rd. E. (See back page for
details). The Committee is very excited about having the
General Service Office’s (GSO) new archivist Amy Filiatreau
as this year’s speaker. Amy is quoted in August-September
2006 Box 459 as saying “that members of her family ‘ha[d]
been involved in A.A. since before I was born. This job feels
like a natural fit.” (http://aa.org/en_pdfs/en_box459_aug-
sept06.pdf). She promises to bring to the presentation choice
recordings that have never been heard before by the Fellow-
ship!
Last year’s Breakfast was a resounding success with Mel B.,
from Toledo, OH as the speaker at the open meeting which
follows the buffet breakfast. Mel is an active 81-year old with
56 years of sobriety A seasoned writer, Mel was a major con-
tributor to Pass It On, the AAWS-published biography of Bill
W. Amy Filiatreau, GSO Archivist

I feel very fortunate to be a part of this project and enjoy it im- highs and lows (loud and soft voices) as well as breaks or dead
mensely. When a Longtimer hands me an old tape I get excited
because I realize that I hold a small piece of our history. I get to
air (quiet spots where a speaker may be walking from the back
of the room to the microphone, etc.) and the editing begins. Ottawa Archives
actually hear the voices and stories of some of the giants that I The dead air can be easily edited out for continuity and the
so often hear the Longtimers refer to. transition between Side A and Side B of the cassette blended. We had our elections February 20th and have filled most of the land group). We will be presenting the movie “My name is Bill
In many cases a “soft” voice can be amplified or loud voices positions. We are very pleased to welcome our new Archivist, W,” the story of the founding of AA, starring James Wood, Jo
As we well know, cassette, eight track, and reel to reel tapes or noise reduced for clarity. When editing is complete, the Terry C. Terry is a lover of history and has been for as long as Beth Williams and James Garner. There will be Archival Exhib-
have a limited life span and even if put away for safe keeping final copy (.wav file) is saved on an external hard drive for he can remember. He has written several history books over the its and refreshments.
will deteriorate as the magnetic coating breaks down with age. District 30 archives from which we can duplicate the file as years. He takes over the post from Dan McD. who has been a
Vinyl records are prone to scratching and breakage as well but often as required or burn to CD’s for members to listen to. As tireless servant of the organization over the past four years. The We have been successful in providing an archival service that is
when this media is digitized, it can be reproduced as often as an added measure of safety I also backup this hard drive to past Chair, Janet C., has agreed to stay on for another term, with supported by local AA groups, both financially and by providing
required and the original safely retired to the archives. The proc- DVD to retain a hard copy of the drive contents. Mary W. as continuing Vice-Chair. 2007 promises to be an ex- us with material.
ess I use is fairly simple but does require a small degree of com- citing year, we have received many interesting archival dona-
puter literacy to achieve a successful reproduction of the original Recording “live” events (medallions and anniversaries) is tions over the last few months (families of some deceased mem- We are expecting to receive from the Area Archivist a DVD of
recording. I’ll use and old cassette tape as an example. much the same except I simply plug my laptop into the sound bers, some articles from Yugoslavia and tapes of longtimers a former Ottawa resident, Ted P. Ted moved to Paris in the
system of the meeting and let it record. I then get to take the experiences in earlier AA). I personally am looking forward to early 1950s but not after earning a reputation as a terrible drunk.
To digitize a cassette you require a (reasonable quality) cassette meeting home with me and play with my editor at my leisure. putting in to practice some of the items we learned during 2006, He was put into the Rockcliff Hospital (RCAF) in 1951 by Mike
player with ‘line out’ jacks, a computer with a good sound card Eight track, reel to reel, and vinyl records can be done in the such as which archival items should we retain and which should O’B. He moved to Paris shortly thereafter, and after a real
(‘line in’ inputs) and recording software on the computer. I start same fashion as long as you have the capability of outputting we discard? bender met Cebra G. who is noted as being a friend of Roland H.
by cleaning the heads of the cassette player since many of the the player directly into your sound card on your computer. According to the recountings of Ted, Roland and Cebra carried
old cassette tapes are already starting to break down and losing When dealing with old recordings I always treat them with the message to Ebby and Bill when they were both back in New
their coating. I usually turn both spools of the cassette by hand respect and assume that they may be on their ‘last play’ and Ted moved to Paris in the early 1950s but not York between the wars! The recording of this oral history was
to ensure they are not seized and then gently run the tape end to try to get the raw digitization done in one shot – you may not after earning a reputation as a terrible drunk. He was begun by the members of A.A. in Paris who had undertaken to
end to ensure it is not stuck somewhere on the spool since the get a second chance. Splicing an old, fragile tape is difficult compile a full history of A.A. in Paris. This piece of the re-
put into the Rockcliff Hospital (RCAF) in 1951 by Mike
tape will take a ‘set’ after prolonged storage in a garage or damp and the results are quite often disappointing. cording was conducted in 1993 and was the only piece that was
O’B. done! Ted is now quite senior and lives in Geneva.
basement. The output of the cassette player goes to my ‘line in’
jack on the computer and I fire up my recording software. The This is a project that I enjoy and get excited about as well as
cassette must play through in ‘real time’ (which is when I get to giving me the opportunity to be of service to the fellowship. If Janet C., Chair and Mary W., Vice-Chair
listen to the whole tape) and it is recorded into my computer ‘as I can be of service or provide additional information, please
is’ since my intent at this point is to get the entire recording feel free to contact me. Our Fourth Annual Spring Event will be held on April 19th at the
John S. District 30 Bronson Centre in Ottawa. It is a Movie Night with pre-movie
entertainment provided by Souper Jazz (a local amateur Dixie