What  group do you belong too?  Does your group have an archives? Who is responsible for seeing to it that your group is collecting information and the history of your group? You guessed it. It's You. Yes you can begin right now picking up fliers, minutes of your business meetings, group history forms. You can get a small tape recorder and ask your long timers to sit down with you for one hour and let them tell their experience with AA. We don't want the drunkalog we want their introduction to AA and the history of their service work, how sobriety and AA changed their life and the lives of their loved ones. You can start with a simple acid free box to stick in your closet or under the ole bed. Place the papers inside neatly and try to keep the corners from folding over. You can remove staples and anything that will rust over a long period of time. Have you ever opened up some paper work that had been wrapped with a rubber band and found it decomposed and stuck to something very important? Well until you do rubber bands might not alert you at all. Be sure to remove rubber bands before placing your archives in the box. Remember when you close the lid that you might be the only one to access that box for twenty years or so. Not likely but these are things that we learn as we begin to try to protect our past so we might not have to repeat our mistakes. Okay now go get a box. A local Staples or OfficeMax will have a acid free container that will work. Get a large one cause you will be pleasantly surprised how quickly you can fill one up. Also be sure that your loved one's realize that if something were to happen to you that this AA box should be turned over to your district or area Archives. We are simply keepers of the past as we gather up AA material and history being made. It is important to pick up fliers of today, as today is tomorrows history. Let your AA friends know that you are collecting anything that is AA related and the reasons that you are doing it. It is neat to see them begin to bring you old Grapevines, area newsletters, big books, things that otherwise would fall by the wayside. You would not believe the AA literature that finds its way to the local dumps and lost forever. If you have any questions please feel free to ask any of the Area 64 Archives Committee. They will be glad to help you get and Archives started in your group or district.                     May God Bless You And Keep You Till Then.