CONTACT: info@steppingstones.org, 914-232-4822 ext. 11
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2026
SUPPORTERS JOIN FORCES WITH STEPPING STONES FOR ITS ACQUISITION OF ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS “BIG BOOK” TO BE CENTERPIECE OF COLLECTION OF STEPPING STONES – HISTORIC HOME OF BILL & LOIS WILSON
KATONAH, NY—Friends from coast to coast joined forces with Stepping Stones for its bid to bring home the foremost relic of Alcoholics Anonymous’ (A.A.) history and a global treasure. Stepping Stones, the historic home and archive of A.A cofounder Bill Wilson and Al-Anon Family Groups Cofounder Lois Wilson, Katonah, NY, successfully won the July 1, 2026, manuscript auction with assistance from twenty-one backers.
Bill Barton, Stepping Stones Board of Trustees President said, “We got together with caring people and raised funds to ensure that this foundational A.A. document will remain exactly where it should be at Stepping Stones, in Katonah, NY.”
“This acquisition would not have been possible without the coalition of incredible donors that joined our effort—some even joining minutes before the auction,” said Sally Corbett-Turco, Executive Director, The Stepping Stones Foundation. “Stepping Stones is grateful that the manuscript is returning home to be the centerpiece of our collection. As Lois Wilson hoped, it will be available for future generations of people in recovery to see and be inspired. They will experience it in a place deeply connected to its history and meaning.”
The Stepping Stones Foundation—with additional support of Trustees, Advisory Council Members, volunteers, staff, and donors—bid on the manuscript with the stated intention “to bring it home” to where Bill and Lois Wilson lived from 1941 until their respective deaths in 1971 and 1988.
The hand-edited original manuscript of “Alcoholics Anonymous”— widely known as the “A.A. Big Book”—will end its long and storied journey through successive auctions and owners to return to the museum and archive on the site where Bill and Lois Wilson lived, wrote, and worked to grow the worldwide recovery fellowships.
BACKGROUND ON THE MANUSCRIPT, BILL WILSON, & STEPPING STONES
Known as the “Printer’s Copy Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous”—the landmark book contains the Twelve Steps drafted by Bill Wilson that have gone on to be used by millions of people and hundreds of other organizations addressing various challenges and maladies. The Twelve Steps have been regarded as America’s “greatest gift to humanity” and “greatest export.” The Library of Congress listed the A.A. Big Book among the “eighty-eight books that shaped America.”
Bill Wilson got sober in New York in 1934. He carried the message of sobriety to Akron where he helped A.A.’s other cofounder find recovery. Soon after he urged the budding fellowship to approve the making of a book to share the recovery program with others.
Bill Wilson is widely acknowledged as the person who spearheaded the Big Book project—from cultivating support to managing the content and “umpiring” the debates that erupted about the wording as shown in the famed draft. The annotations in the original manuscript / printer’s copy represent a pivotal stage in the creation of a work that helped and still helps to carry a message of recovery from alcoholism around the world. The manuscript was used by the typesetter at Cornwall Press, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, to produce the book in 1939. The Big Book is now in seventy-six languages according to Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, which has distributed more than forty-one million English copies in various formats.
Separate from A.A. and all other 12-Step fellowships, The Stepping Stones Foundation is a nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization with Federal ID # 13-3031164 that accepts donations of any amount to support preservation and operations of the privately-run National Historic Landmark home and archive. “This acquisition is unprecedented for Stepping Stones. We invite contributions toward the manuscript’s future preservation, protection, and display along with the other 110,000 original treasures left in our care by the Wilsons,” added Corbett-Turco.
As its mission, The Stepping Stones Foundation “fosters public understanding of alcoholism and inspires recovery by preserving and sharing the home, archive, and legacy of Bill and Lois Wilson, cofounders respectively of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon Family Groups.” Situated on eight acres of gardens and woodlands nestled on the border of the hamlets of Katonah and Bedford Hills in the Town of Bedford, NY, Stepping Stones features the Wilson home (a 1920 Dutch Colonial Revival), Bill Wilson’s writing studio “Wit’s End,” 10,000 historic artifacts and 130,000 archival items. Much 12-Step recovery history unfolded at Stepping Stones ranging from Bill’s writing following the Big Book such as the book “Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions” to Lois’ cofounding of Al-Anon Family Groups.
Among the highlights in Stepping Stones’ collection are the original “Came to Believe” painting (nicknamed “Man on a Bed”), which some call “the Mona Lisa of A.A.,” and Bill Wilson’s writing desk. Each year, thousands of visitors—including members of the worldwide recovery community, families, friends, scholars and history enthusiasts—make a “homecoming” to Stepping Stones for tours, workshops and events and quiet reflection on the lives and legacies of the Wilsons. Stepping Stones also offers presentations, virtual events and tours, an online archive, films and videos, plays and play scripts, volunteer opportunities and internships.
For further information about Stepping Stones and to support its mission, the website is https://www.steppingstones.org where details of events, volunteer opportunities, archive and online archive, tours, and support opportunities can be found.
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Interviews, images, and video of Stepping Stones, the manuscript and more are available upon request.
Media Contact
Sally A. Corbett-Turco
Executive Director, The Stepping Stones Foundation (FEIN 13-3031164)
Stepping Stones – Historic Home of Bill & Lois Wilson
62 Oak Road, Katonah, NY 10536
Email info@steppingstones.org
Phone – Office 914-232-4822 Extension 11 or Text – 914-232-4822
Email info@steppingstones.org
Website https://www.steppingstones.org
