The mission of the Washington Area Intergroup Association (WAIA) Archives Committee is to document permanently the work of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Washington, DC area, to make the history of our area’s fellowship accessible to A.A. members and other researchers, and to provide a context for understanding WAIA’s evolution.

Purpose statements

Consistent with A.A.’s and WAIA’s primary purpose of maintaining our sobriety and helping other alcoholics achieve recovery, the WAIA Archives Committee will:

• preserve and conserve the archival materials relevant to the Washington Area,
• identify irreplaceable archival records and to institute security measures for their preservation,
• establish and maintain a repository for such materials at the WAIA headquarters,
• evaluate the holdings at such repository for permanent retention or not or for forwarding to the appropriate committee or office,
• cooperate with the Area 13 and the Hispanic Intergroup Archives Committees in such archival endeavors,
• promote cooperation between archival workshops and committees throughout the AA community,
• establish security procedures for access to the repository files including policies and applications by outside researchers to honor our traditions of anonymity,
• record histories and experiences of long-time sober alcoholics and groups,
• facilitate research and archives of Washington archival material by establishing policies, schedules and forms for group and area histories and recordings and by cataloging archival holdings,
• develop and present budgets for such archival purposes before Area 13 and WAIA Budget Committees, and
• provide for the display of archival materials at Area and Intergroup events.

Vision for 2018

• To more effectively maintain our archives collection in its categorizing and disposition, the full version of the Museum software that we have purchased should be installed.
• To preserve and conserve the monthly WAIA Board of Directors’ sign-in record, which prior to 2014 was part of the WAIA BOD minutes currently retained in the WAIA archives. The Registrar’s Excel file should be archived as a matter of WAIA policy.
• To preserve and conserve the WAIA Banquet tapes as part of the archives MP3 files.
• In promoting cooperation between archival workshops throughout the AA community, including Hispanics, Northern Virginia and close-by Intergroups, as well as Areas 71, 13, and 29; host the 2020 National AA Archives Workshop (NAAAW). The Archive Committee will contact the Silver Spring Double Tree for its convention facilities and solicit the requisite 2020 NAAAW Bid Chair and committee membership to handle the Workshop’s functions like Hospitality, Registration, Banquet, Program, etc. To arrange tours for the Workshop, the Archives Committee shall contact the Library of Congress (where Fitz went to evaluate the title of our book) and the National Archives (where Archival techniques are demonstrated at a high level).
• Register the WAIA Archives Committee with the GSO Archives Office.

Assistance Needed!

• Need a WAIA administrator to install the full version of The Museum software on the assistant office administrator’s computer.
• Need WAIA Rules Committee and Registrar assistance to draft this proposed policy and resulting motion, if required, before the WAIA BOD.
• Need individuals to share the web links to the Midtown and other Groups that may contain WAIA Banquet tapes. Need the New Reporter to publish an article, which makes an appeal to individuals in the fellowship to share their tapes/CD.
• Need a letter of support from the WAIA BOD and the Washington Area General Service Assembly. The WAIA Chair explicitly offers spiritual support for hosting the Workshop here.
• May need support from the Washington Area General Service Assembly (WAGSA) registrar who has access to GSO’s data base.

Contact the Archives Committee:

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