Archivist April 2025 Repository
The repository activity highlights various activities and tasks completed, including attending the Area April Quarterly, reviewing the Archives Workbook, and preparing for a Regional Archives Workshop in October. The focus of the work parties will be on managing digital assets, solving connectivity issues, and organizing physical archive displays. The 4/20 work party included Joyce B, ASC member, Heidi, and Kim, D24 Archives Chair; we were challenged with digital files but found camaraderie and support. I experience deep gratitude when reflecting on my nine years in Archives and the healing found in the language of the heart, where we emphasize the importance of documenting facts and preserving the history of A.A. in Western Washington. Maryland N., WWA72 Archivist—–
Newsletter
Hopefully, this writing captures my individual emotional and passionate response to the Area Committee’s decision to stop printing eight of the twelve monthly newsletters due to budget constraints. I understand on a very experiential basis the significance of the printed newsletter, which dates back to 1955, and the impact of this decision on the varied and sundry members that make up the A.A. community. I have concern about the inclusivity and accessibility of a only digital newsletter, especially for members who may not have access to digital resources—knowledge, time, money, geography, etc.; not to mention adding another responsibility to the mental/emotional bandwidth of our already busy sober trusted servant members. Consider me silly, consider me naïve, I believe in the importance of the printed newsletter in carrying the message of 12-step servant leadership. I will always suggest looking for alternative middle-of-road solutions to fund both digital and printed newsletters. I have stories, actually, you have stories—almost everything that the author of the Assemblies chapter in OSD3 comes from some kernel printed in that document. There are two archival rules I try to follow: one, do no harm, and two, paper is the archival standard. If this goes digital, it may follow the precedent of 2012 when paper records stopped. After 2016, there are no paper records of your Delegates and, besides putting printing back on GSRs and individual members, archives is not the printer for 22 positions—we manage the collection of records of those 22 positions; their heartstring language-of-the-heart moments and observations recorded in the newsletter. I have listened as a trusted servant relayed what the newsletter has done for a member or two in correctional facilities. I am asking that we, the 66 members of the Area Committee remember the foundational principles of A.A. and the needs of all our members.*
Consider this: In 1955, a “state paper” was one of the most important matters facing Area 72 when it gathered—all 9, nine, Delegates from the nine Districts that started that meeting, ending the meeting with two additional districts. The occasion and institution of this ‘state paper’ was so big it was a moment of great sharing at the Conference. Think on that. At its inception, the ‘state paper’ was meant to document and share the most current information about A.A. in Washington …And, in the 2000s, a servant leader was taught by an elder servant leader of the Newsletter Editor variety ‘that the printed Newsletter was a demonstration of gratitude’ to the groups…Can we not examine, with HONESTY, OPENMINDEDNESS, and WILLINGNESS the possibility of two solutions or a midway solution? As an Alcoholic Anonymous I want to refrain from using divisive phraseology. Yet. I. LOVE PAPER.
Maryland N.,
Member of A.A.,
Seeking Serenity,
District 45,
P75 WWA72 Archivist
