A thankful response to the Ernie Kurtz letter.
  _____

Hi Ernie: Over the years, I have donated lots of material to Brown through
my friend David Lewis. At one point, however, when he and I were working on
having my entire 23,900 item historical collection funded and then donated
to Brown, he pointed out that items which were copied or which didn't have
"provenance" would not pass acceptance by the librarians. Also, he thought
he had a number of the books through his $250,000 Charlie Bishop purchase.
At the end of a couple of years, he indicated there was a priority for Mitch
K.'s materials and yours and offered to negotiate around $35,000.00 - which
my son and I had to turn down because the materials were appraised at
$345,000. and the cost over 14 years of travel, purchases, office expense,
etc. far far exceeded the $35,000. Then, piece by piece, almost the entire
collection was funded and donated to the Griffith House Library at The
Wilson House. As to the Shoemaker materials, I will make them available for
donation to anyone who will pay $15,000.00 plus modest shipping and handling
and will see that they are safe, stewarded, and accessible. But I don't have
the heart or the health to quibble or negotiate over what are or are not
copies, what are or are not duplicates, etc. And I know of several great
potential locations - three in Akron, one in Texas, one in Kentucky, and one
in Pittsburgh. I have held back this Shoemaker collection after funding and
donating almost my entire 23,900 items to The Wilson House. Similarly, as
you probably know, I have the entire Dr. Bob Library collection - not just
scraps or coffee pots, but containing a volume of every book in his library
and mentioned in my three bibliographies - Dr. Bob and His Library, The
Books Early AAs Read for Spiritual Growth, and Making Known the Biblical
History and Roots of A.A. The Dr. Bob collection, like the Shoemaker
collection, has many other items including a copy of the real Anne Smith's
Journal which I obtained through Sue, Nell, and Frank Mauser.

To sum up, I've had the privilege of seeing the excellent materials of
people like Jim Newton, Earl Husband, and yourself made available to good
repositories, and I was and am determined to see all of mine similarly
situated before they float my body out to sea in an outrigger canoe with
lei's on all sides.

A few of us have spent the better part of two or more decades assembling,
analyzing, and publicizing the history and historical materials that A.A.
itself has never made accessible or available. First came the search. Then
came the acquisitions. Then came the analysis and publication. And now there
is more for the future: (1) Seeing the material in good stewardship. (2)
Making photo and film and audio talks about them. (3) Posting as much as
possible on the internet for all to see free of charge. And already, people
like aabiliography have begun the costly, time-consuming, task.

Thank you for writing and for the kind words. I took the time to elaborate
because there has often been misunderstanding among the historians as to who
has done what and who wants what. If these things all hang out, some of
these days there will a basis for a composite, accurate, complete history,
albeit always growing.

God Bless, Dick B.As g a volume of every book in his library and mentioned
in my three bibliographies - Dr. Bob and His Library, The Books E

-----Original Message-----
From: Alcohol and Drugs History Society [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Ernest Kurtz
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 3:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Reverend Samuel Moor Shoemaker Nov 2004

Hi Dick,

Have you given any thought to donating these to the Brown University
Collection?  They are now concentrating on biographical collections,
including Sue Smith Windows's as well as Clarence Snyder's.  I find them
a worthy repository and am in the process of arranging that Dan
Anderson's papers go there.

Hope you are well and that your mentoring of Roch Kolenda keeps holding
promise for all of us.  Rich is a fine young man, and seems ready to
learn much from you.

ernie kurtz
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