A life in medicine.
A place in recovery history.
Original writings, correspondence, and photographs bring the physician—and the person—into view.
Silkworth treated Bill Wilson at Towns Hospital. His medical perspective became part of the opening pages of Alcoholics Anonymous. This archive follows the wider story: family, professional life, patients, and the fellowship’s gratitude.
Examine the scans, then open each document’s record for context and collection notes.
The unsigned copy identified in the collection documentation as the source used for A.A.’s published medical statement.
This connection is a collection-source attribution, subject to independent object-level verification.
Examine the document →
A typed letter, signed “Bill,” recognizing the doctor’s place in Wilson’s own recovery and the beginnings of A.A.
Examine the letter →Childhood writing, family photographs, education, and the early years behind a physician’s career.
Explore the personal material ↓Appointments, manuscripts, and speech texts preserve the development of his medical thinking.
Explore the medical material ↓Patient letters and later recognition offer a record of care remembered by others.
Explore gratitude & legacy ↓Choose a scan for an enlarged view. These highlights represent a selection from the complete collection.
A photograph from the family material, preserving Silkworth before his medical career.
A handwritten childhood piece identified in the collection documentation as an early composition.
A Presbyterian Hospital appointment letter documents one part of his professional life.
The opening page of a manuscript on medicine, psychiatry, religion, and A.A.’s success.
A letter of thanks gives a personal view of the doctor through the experience of someone he treated.
A proclamation presented to Mrs. Silkworth records the fellowship’s gratitude after his death.
The portfolio traces the material from family custody to its later use in a published biography. The value of that continuity is the connection between personal life, medical practice, and early A.A.
The timeline follows the collection’s documentation. It is presented as the recorded provenance, rather than a claim that every object has been independently authenticated.
Read the provenance section ↗For collectors and institutions interested in preserving the whole. Contact Tim Fitzpatrick for further photography, documentation, and acquisition details.
Portfolio: 11 pages · PDF · approximately 3.8 MB