Archivist Report - January 2025

Hello Area 41, I am sorry that I was not able to attend the January assembly. I was planning to come to see the Archives Workshop but I was unaware that the workshop would be held as late in the day as it was. Being unable to fund myself for an overnight stay I decided against attending. It is my fault for not reading the digital newsletter. I kept waiting on the hard copy which is easier for me to read. But it didn’t come so I only looked at the schedule at the last minute on Friday night. By that time, it would have taken several steps to achieve funding and I didn’t have arrangements for my dogs over night. I look forward to hearing the recording and I am really bummed that I missed it. I had really been looking forward to it.

At our last Area Archives committee meeting we talked about defining a job description for both the Archives Chair person and the Archivist. I have come up with some ideas for this but feel that it should be discussed further in committee. One of the things that I wish to address in the Archivist section is the care and location of the Archives laptop. Once these issues are discussed in the committee we will need to create an agenda item to change the Area Service Manual.

Work continues on the sorting and organization of district material. I am more than half way through the districts and will be glad to finally complete this chore this year. Ive also been looking through things in the repository that I haven’t even seen before. I found some tri fold boards that an earlier archivist put together showing the growth of AA through the years through a display of group history forms. These were very helpful in my most recent quest. My search for the first AA group in Nebraska has become a focus for me. We know certain things about certain groups, but is this the whole picture? It is commonly believed that AA began in February 1943 in Omaha. The next meeting I have found is North Platte which began in Feb/Mar1944. After that was July 1945 in Pender. These are the 3 earliest groups that I have found. But there are rumors that there may have been earlier. I ask that you all have a look within your districts and let me know when and where your first meetings were. Please fill out new District History Forms and Group History Forms to help me with this project. Also, any documentation that you can find regarding early groups or correspondence in your district would be amazing.

On December 29 th Nick and I each gave a talk at the District 4 meeting in Fremont. I feel that it was informative for everyone involved and hope that it inspired people to step outside of their comfort zones and see what the district as a whole is doing. It was good to see old friends who I used to serve with when I lived in District 4 and it is always great to hear Nick do his thing. I attended the Intergroup Archives committee as I usually do. We discussed moving items around on the central office walls to leave space that could be dedicated to National AA memorabilia. Most of the pictures and memorabilia that presently hangs there is geared towards local Omaha AA. I suggested that Area 41 needs represented too. They agreed to give us some space as well. My goal is to at least make up a nice large map of the Area that indicates where the districts and groups are located. If anybody from the Omaha Area would like to help me with this project I would be eternally grateful. Please contact me if you are interested in helping with this. I really feel it would be best if this were a group project.

That’s all for now. See you in the fall.

Colleen P. -Area 41 Archivist