Wit's End

Above: A drawing by Lois Wilson.

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Bill's studio, which Lois called Wit's End (Bill commonly referred to it as "the shack") was built with the help of a friend around 1948. The very desk that the book Alcoholics Anonymous (aka The Big Book) was written on is inside. Most of Bill's other important works, including Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, were written here.




Bill's Desk This desk originally belonged to Hank P., the AA who was as eager to have a book written as was Bill. Hank offered Bill space in his office in New Jersey. There, Bill wrote much of the book Alcoholics Anonymous sitting at this desk. Bill later bought the desk from Hank (who later insisted that Bill never paid him for it; Bill refused saying he paid once but not twice). It is assumed that the desk was first placed in the main house and brought to the studio after its completion. Cigarette burns can be seen on the top rim of the desk, where Bill would put them and forget about them.




The west wall of the studio includes a fireplace and a sign above it that reads "But For The Grace of God". The photograph to the right shows Dick Richardson, the Rockefeller Foundation trustee who was one of AA's early friends. "Uncle Dick" and Bill Wilson were very close. Bill must have loved Dick very much, as it is the only one of two photos of friends in the studio. The crucifix on the wall and a cane leaning against the fireplace belonged to another close friend, Father Dowling, and were given to Bill upon the priest's death.




Atop three filing cabinets on the east wall lies a U.S. map dotted with pins charting AA's growth through the 1960s. According to Nell Wing, the map was originally located in the AA office in New York City. She and other staff members would make a big show of placing the pins on the map when they were informed that a new group had been formed. A photograph on the left wall is of Bill's lifelong Vermont friends, Charley Ritchie and Mark Whalon. Above it is the original "Man On The Bed" painting. The map has recently been preserved, thanks to the Friends of Stepping Stones. If you would like to help aid in the preservation of items such as this, click here.




The south wall contains some items placed there during Bill's lifetime and some placed by Lois after his death. One is a $25.00 Works Publishing, Inc. stock certificate, which indicatess how Bill and others hoped to finance the publication of Alcoholics Anonymous. The stock plan was unsuccessful, and the certificates were later purchased back.