Audio
About this recording
- Topic
- The Area 64 Archives Story Part 2
- Speaker
- Jim D
- Date
- 2001-09-28
Transcript
Source: Jim D – The Area 64 Archives Story Part 2 – 2001-09-28.mp3 File: jim-d-the-area-64-archives-story-part-2-2001-09-28.mp3 Duration: 00:16:06
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Alternate delegate then, David Parrish. He attended, Petty attended, Larry, I think you were there, Chuck. I mean, we brought everybody over there for a true show and tell. And do you know, out of that meeting, less than a month later when we went to the assembly, they accepted. And for $400 a month, this time we got 1,200 square feet, but built to our specs, our insulation requirements, our control.
And in September of 1988, we had— Grand opening, and we've been in the building for three weeks, moving from across the parking lot from one building to another, trying to set up. And that's what we ended up with. And this is thanks to Pauline. We dubbed this by her choosing, Our Precious Memories. And it has been precious, believe me. That's what it looks like today. In fact, it's what it looks like right now.
We finally got grass. We got a few little decorations, both the inside and out. But you know, you'll see that when you walk in the front door. It didn't always look like that. There's a lot of things in there now, and this is something for all of y'all to keep in memory. We didn't have those lateral files in the beginning. We didn't have those display tables. That desk came from Nashville. You can see the fireproof safes, plus five more that we've accumulated, and another great big lateral file.
That's a delegate showcase that we just had built, honoring those who have served our state proudly. Twenty-four of them. We lack three of having memorabilia on all of them. We've been to their wives, their families, their sons, their daughters, their brothers, sisters, you name it. But we've tracked all of them down. Right there is a whole side view of one wall. And don't let those tape racks fool you.
We've got over 4,000 tapes in that building, but we've got them broke down by assembly, business meetings, and special events. And that right up there is for special speakers. And I've lost four volunteers over that one little piece of wall because everybody just gets devastated with the chore of trying to catalog them, and they throw up their hands and say, I'll see you and never come back.
[00:05:03]
So, and that right there is the right, the left-hand side of the door. We've got a few things that have been donated: a rocking chair, a picture of Bill Wilson that come from the state convention. It was won at a raffle, and they donated it to us, a painting. There is the tape area. That's the showcase that Larry had built, or built himself. And up on top of it is setting a collection of grapevines for the years that Joe Grouse was…
An honored member, and to become delegate of the state of Tennessee, and a trustee later on after that. Those, every one of those represents a year of his sobriety. His wife and son donated that to us because, again, finally you've got a place to keep it. Now we'll come to you. I ain't gonna say nothing about that. That's just where all the slave work goes on. And there's those monsters all through here.
That's my little supply cabinet, and you see that little bitty thing down there? They call that a personal home computer. We had a funeral for it 45 days ago. For two years, that thing did the work of any coffee machine you ever saw in your life and just worked its heart out and gave up and died. And I would only make a suggestion: if you're putting something like this together, if you can't afford to buy one, if you can rent a refurbished one or something of that nature, go for it, because anywhere from six to ten cents a copy, it'll bankrupt your budget, number one.
Number two, if it breaks down, you still can't get any service on it, and you're back getting photocopies. And Betty made the mention of the fact, you know, that just poured out the paperwork. Well, everything comes in cycles, because now we're not pouring it out. They're calling us, asking us for it faster than we can do it. But it shows they're interested. We have gotten, we have gotten our group histories up.
The day I took over as the archives chair, we had 116 group histories out of 522 in our state, as it stands now. As of the first of July, we had, we had 72 percent complete, and they're still coming in. But we have to beg, preach, threaten, embarrass. I mean, we've got to do anything in the world to get to some of these people that don't share our philosophy. I'm proud of my home group. I think it's the best one in the world, and I want everybody to know where we come from. And mistakenly, I think they ought to feel the same way, because where did you get sober?
Where do you stay sober? Who's there for you? I mean, at least you ought to be able to recognize them. And, you know, we built, we added on a website, as some of y'all know sitting in this room today. You've seen our website, and you're nowhere close to us. But we do everything to carry the message, not just to keep the files. We keep upcoming events posted. We keep group locations. We're doing a central office intergroup type job service because we're asked to.
And it just got so hard to keep from looking it up. My webmaster, but I'll tell you, without him, I'd run, I'd hide because I couldn't do it. But he tries every way in the world to keep it abreast, and the people love it. And we really don't know. We're willing to serve. We go to service events.
[00:10:01]
We go to workshops. We go to fundraisers. We go just about anywhere we're asked, and we travel all over the state. And we do it for one reason. If they see you and you care enough about archives to show up in their home territory, then they're going to help you if the time ever arises, or if they have something, whether it be files, memorabilia, or what it might be, information even, they'll help you.
And they appreciate you being concerned enough to come to them. They don't have to drive halfway across the state and set up an appointment. We started out two days a week, two hours in the afternoon. The archives is open six days a week, and some days it's a couple, three hours. Some days it's eight or ten. It's just whatever is necessary. You want to see our archives? All you've got to do is call and tell us when you're coming. I live five minutes away, and if I can't be there, I've got three other guys that's got keys.
They'll be there to show you. Because it's your archives. It's our people's archives. It's what it's all about. And this, you know, Bob can really preserve things. I mean, if I had a hundredth of his talent, it'd tickle me to death. But I know one thing, and you can see it right back here in our display case. I may not be able to preserve it, but I sure know how to lock it up and put it under glass. So I don't have to worry about teaching about don't touch this or don't touch that.
But archives can be fun. And as you all know, this is preaching to the choir. First, really and truly, you know, it becomes an interest, and then it becomes an avenue, and then it becomes a love, and then it becomes a passion. And I lose sight of that. They give me the Dickens all the time. So what? I didn't have any sense when I was insane. But I'm working on it. Famous saying, insane. Thank you. Let's give Area 64 Archives Committee and Archive Committee Chair a hand.
Thank you all. Thank you, Jim and your committee. Yeah, we do. We need to get out of here pretty quickly, but we do have a little bit of time if anybody has any questions. I think that mic is live there. You can use it. Okay, I have one announcement real quickly. We found a billfold that somebody may have lost that's with the workshop. If you'll see Floyd and identify the color, he will get that billfold back to you. So if anybody's lost that.
Let's stand and make a circle and close with the Lord's Prayer, if you would please. I'd like to ask all those from the Tennessee area, our delegates and all of them here from Tennessee, come up. We'd like to get a photograph, please, after this.