Dick B.
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Onsite Inventory of
The Dr. Bob Core Library
At North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
08/25/09
On August 25, 2009, Richard S. called Ken B. from the North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, and provided him with the following “live,” onsite inventory of the partially-completed “Dr. Bob Core Library” housed at North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The “Dr. Bob Core Library” currently takes up four shelves at the church. Ken B. prepared and later edited the following inventory as Richard S. dictated the contents of the library over the phone. The resources below represent approximately one-quarter of the material ultimately envisioned for the “Dr. Bob Core Library.” The remaining three-quarters will be placed in the library as benefactors make additional funding available. (Please see the “Dr. Bob Core Library” Project page on the International Christian Recovery Coalition web site for more information: http://christianrecoverycoalition.com/drbob-core-library.shtml.)
Top (Fourth) Shelf
The top shelf (and part of the shelf below it) contain books by Dick B. on the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.’s astonishing successes. There is a little sign on the top shelf saying: “Dr. Bob Core Library: Help Yourself Compliments of Dick B.” In other words, visitors are invited to take one or more of the books by Dick B. for their own use. (There were 42 books by Dick B.—in some cases, multiple copies of the same title—spread over the top shelf and third shelf.)
Third Shelf
There is a sign on the third shelf which states: “Dr. Bob Core Library.” In addition to the books by Dick B. on this shelf, there were the following books:
Bill W.: My First Forty Years by Bill W. [autobiography]
A.A. and MRA: It Started Right Here [booklet/pamphlet]
How Can We Lose When We Are So Sincere by T. Willard Hunter
The Wager by Blaise Pascal
Lois Remembers by Lois [W.--autobiography]
Worldwide Endeavor: The Story of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor by Francis Clark
Our A.A. Legacy to the Faith Community by Three Clarence H. Snyder Sponsees and Their Wives
Expert Endeavor by Amos Wells [photocopy]
Second Shelf
The Officers’ Handbook by Amos Wells
Weapons for Temperance Warfare by Belle M. Brain
Fifty Missionary Programs by Belle Brain
In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon
Successful C.E. [= Christian Endeavor] Prayer Meetings by James DeForest Murch
The Young People’s Pastor by Amos R. Wells
Memories of Many Men in Many Lands by Francis E. Clark
Frances E. Clark by W. Knight Chaplin
The Frances E. Clark Yearbook by John R. Clements
“Pass It On” [A.A. General Service Conference-approved book]
The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous [A.A. General Service Conference-approved; Item #P-53]
Christian Endeavor in All Lands by Francis E. Clark
Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers [A.A. General Service Conference-approved book]
Dr. Poling’s Radio Talks by Daniel A. Poling
Folder containing Dr. Bob-related material:
RHS [A.A. General Service Conference-approved booklet/pamphlet]
Four “AA of Akron” pamphlets/booklets:
Spiritual Milestones in Alcoholics Anonymous
A Guide to the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: The Akron Guide to the Twelve Steps
A Manual for Alcoholics Anonymous: The Akron Manual
Second Reader for Alcoholics Anonymous
Holy Bible
Alcoholics Anonymous (a collection of 32 personal stories not included in the Third Edition; 25 personal stories from the First Edition and 7 stories from the Second Edition; with “circus cover” dust jacket)
An 8 ½” x 11” copy of 29 titles by Dick B. found on the “Titles Page” on the www.DickB.com web site
Six, 8 ½” x 11” pages listing and describing the “Dr. Bob Resource Volumes” by Dick B.
Contents to Volume IX: The Fairbanks Family [= 1st page]
Volume X: The Town of Dr. Bob’s Youth to Volume XX: Appendix [= 2d page]
Bottom (First) Shelf
There are 14 binders (blue or white) on the bottom shelf. Some of the binders contain the more-than 1,800 pages of photocopies of materials assembled by Dick B. and Ken B. during their June 2008 Vermont research trip from: (1) Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont (where Bill W. attended school); (2) East Dorset Congregational Church (where Bill W. & family attended church); (3) Vermont History Center in Barre; (4) North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury; (5) St. Johnsbury Academy; and (6) St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.
Dr. Bob Core Library Sign-Out Sheets [only Richard Skolnick had signed anything out as of 8/25/09]
The Christian Endeavor Society: Volume XI
Bill Wilson and Bob Smith Together
A Photo Album: Cassidy Collection
So You Thinks Drunks Can’t Be Cured by Richard K.
New Life in the Old Prayer Meeting
Robert Holbrook Smith Genealogy by Ken B.
Photos of A.A. Founders and Family
St. Johnsbury History
North Congregational Church Archives Collection
St. Johnsbury Athenaeum: Finding Guide to the Archives Collection
St. Johnsbury Athenaeum and Caledonian and Vermont YMCA Papers
Vermont History Library
Fairbanks Museum Finding Aids and St. Johnsbury Academy Student
Additional Segment Just Shipped Today from Maui to
The Dr. Bob Core Library
At North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
08/25/09
Based on the sum of $5000.00 just contributed by a benefactor to enable the further stocking of The Dr. Bob Core Library, we have summarized the more than 3,715 relevant research papers of Dick B. and Ken B. These 3,715 papers were shipped today to North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury to be added to the inventory already placed there. Other segments will be added as further donations are made. We thank Richard Skolnik who is on an intensive research and investigation trip to Vermont this week. Richard attended a Wilson House seminar, visited the Wilson family church next door, and visited the Griffith Library where over 30,000 historical items are now lodged in East Dorset, Vermont. Richard then proceeded to St. Johnsbury and investigated the historical treasures at The Dr. Bob Core Library, The Athenaeum (town library), and St. Johnsbury Academy as well as others connected with our quest for information about both Dr. Bob and Bill in Vermont. Richard contacted specific people who have helped us gather information, visited Dr. Bob’s birthplace, and attended A.A. meetings in St. Johnsbury.
| Items (Papers) Shipped Today | |||||||
| Items | Pages | ||||||
| Revivals and Evangelists | 163 | ||||||
| Christian Endeavor Manual by founder Dr. Clark | 296 | ||||||
| Minutes of Vermont Congregational Churches | 214 | ||||||
| Evangelists Moody and Sankey in Vermont and St. Johnsbury | 29 | ||||||
| Biography of Evangelist Folger | 339 | ||||||
| Fairbanks Family Genealogy | 875 | ||||||
| American Christian Ruler | 412 | ||||||
| Sons of Vermont (3 Volumes) | 744 | ||||||
| About Vermont | 108 | ||||||
| Memorial to Joseph Fairbanks | 191 | ||||||
| The First Forty A.A. Pioneers | 7 | ||||||
Books Shipped Today
The Runner’s Bible (1915)
J.P. Thornton-Duesbury, The Oxford Group (1947)
Peter Howard, Frank Buchman’s Secret
Horace Bushnell, The New Life (1871)
Harold Begbie, Twice Born Men (1909)
Henry Drummond, The New Evangelism (1899)
E. Herman, Creative Prayer (1921)
(A special book from the library of Eleanor Napier Forde, wife of James D. Newton. Eleanor was an early and strong supporter of the Oxford Group, is quoted at length in Anne Smith’s journal, and wrote The Guidance of God, published by the Oxford Group. This Herman book discusses all the prayer and meditation ideas that were embodied in most Oxford Group literature of the 1920’s and 1930’s—materials studied by Dr. Bob)
C. J. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soui (1933)
(Both Bill and Bob knew the Carl Jung-Rowland Hazard story that confirmed conversion as a cure for alcoholism; and Bill later gave this Jung book to Dr. Bob as a present and inscribed it to Dr. Bob).
Hastings Rashdall, The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology (1920)
(A.A. subscribed to the ideas of the Sermon on the Mount, 1 Corinthians 13, and the Book of James. This is a background book which discusses the contrast between “faith without works” In James and “justification by faith” in Paul’s writings—also attempting to reconcile the two and further discussing “love thy neighbor as thyself.”)
Hannah Whithall Smith, The Chrstian’s Secret of a Happy Life (1870)
(A best-selling classic that was known to all the early AAs)
Samuel M. Shoemaker, The Church Can Save The World (1938)
C.Irving Benson, The Eight Points of The Oxford Group (1936) with added The Way, The Truth, The Life, and Life Changers by Harold Begbie (1927)
Significance of Materials
Already, Dick B. has completed and published The Conversion of Bill W. Dick B. have completed and published Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous. Both authors have now made two investigative trips to Vermont to assemble materials for these books as well as the new The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, addresses already made at three groups of Conferences in Northern and Southern California, and shortly to become the subject of further addresses at Palm Springs, Oahu, and again in California.
All this work is being placed on blogs, forums, audio talks, and articles being published as materials are analyzed and compared. Members of the new International Christian Recovery Coalition have supported this work in a number of ways. And completion of the funding and stocking of The Dr. Bob Core Library is a top priority item. Shortly also, the authors will publish the long-awaited biography of Dr. Bob that will incorporate information already placed in The Dr. Bob Core Library, and much that is still in Maui, being studied, and awaiting funding for its shipment to Vermont.