The Jim Willis & Early Gamblers Anonymous Archive

Founding-Era Books, Manuscripts, Correspondence, Literature & Family Papers from the Addie Williams Collection

A Founder-Family Archive Preserving the Origins of Gamblers Anonymous

Offered here is a historically significant founder-family archive documenting Jim Willis, the emergence of Gamblers Anonymous, and the early development of a recovery fellowship shaped in part by the Alcoholics Anonymous model.

Preserved through the family papers of Addie Williams — daughter of Sybil Willis and stepdaughter of Jim Willis — the collection brings together founding-era literature, manuscripts, correspondence, service records, convention material, contemporary press coverage, books, pamphlets, photographs, and founder-recognition material spanning the years before G.A.’s formal establishment through the decades that followed.

Its importance lies not only in the rarity of individual pieces, but in the survival of these materials together as a coherent historical record.

The archive documents a clear progression: Jim Willis’s experience in Alcoholics Anonymous, his efforts to find a similar solution for compulsive gambling, the development of early Gamblers Anonymous meetings and literature, the fellowship’s growth, and the later preservation and recognition of his role in its history.

From Alcoholics Anonymous to Gamblers Anonymous

Jim Willis entered Alcoholics Anonymous years before the formation of Gamblers Anonymous. While A.A. helped him address his alcoholism, his gambling continued, leading him to consider whether the same principles of fellowship, identification, and spiritual recovery could be adapted to compulsive gambling.

Several of the archive’s strongest pieces document that relationship directly.

Among them is a bound December 1961 Spanish-language A.A. typescript titled:

Alcoholicos Anonimos — Versión Castellana

The volume was inscribed to Jim Willis by multiple members of the Alcoholics Anonymous General Service Office, including Nell Wing and others whose messages specifically acknowledge and encourage his work with Gamblers Anonymous.

Also retained is a family copy of an August 25, 1964 letter from Bill Wilson to Jim Willis, written after Wilson received an inscribed copy of the newly produced Gamblers Anonymous book. In the letter, Bill praises the work and reflects on the similarities between assembling the G.A. volume and the earlier production of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Additional retained correspondence, including material associated with Jim Burwell, further strengthens the documentary connection between early A.A. figures and the development of G.A.

Together, these materials provide unusually direct evidence of the historical relationship between Alcoholics Anonymous and the emerging Gamblers Anonymous fellowship.

The Founding Years

The collection includes material relating to Jim Willis’s attempts to organize compulsive gamblers before the recognized founding of Gamblers Anonymous on September 13, 1957.

One of the most important historical sources is:

Gamblers Anonymous — Identification and Recovery — From: Jim W.

This substantial typescript was developed from Jim Willis’s recollections and correspondence and preserves a detailed account of the people, experiments, failures, and events that led toward the creation of Gamblers Anonymous.

Subjects include:

• the Algamus Society
• early apartment-house meetings
• the Fred Shields episode
• Paul Coates
• the emergence of the name Gamblers Anonymous
• the events leading to September 13, 1957
• significant dates and individuals in early G.A. history

The manuscript also preserves an important acknowledgment of Sybil Willis’s role in the G.A. story, describing the support she provided during the fellowship’s formative period.

A family-retained copy of a 1958 G.A. Membership Committee record further documents the fellowship’s earliest organizational activity, including membership records, outreach, wives’ meetings, and assignments involving Sybil and other early participants.

The First Gamblers Anonymous Book

A centerpiece of the collection is:

Gamblers Anonymous — First Edition / First Printing — 1964

Produced in a simple typewritten and stapled format with a blue paper cover, this volume represents the first substantial Gamblers Anonymous book.

This copy was personally inscribed by Jim Willis to his stepdaughter Addie Williams, giving it a direct founder-family association.

It stands as one of the archive’s strongest bibliographic and provenance pieces and connects the development of G.A.’s earliest literature directly with the Willis family.

Early Gamblers Anonymous Literature

The archive contains a substantial body of G.A. and Gam-Anon literature documenting the evolution of the fellowships’ recovery message and public presentation.

Highlights include:

• Questions and Answers About the Problem of Compulsive Gambling and the G.A. Recovery Program — First Printing, June 1962
• early Gamblers Anonymous pamphlets
• later Questions and Answers editions
• Compulsive Gambling pamphlets
• early Gam-Anon literature
• later G.A. books and historical publications

Viewed together, these materials allow the development of G.A.’s language, literature, recovery program, and public outreach to be traced over several decades.

Conventions, Service & Organizational Growth

The collection also documents G.A.’s development from a small Los Angeles fellowship into a broader national and international organization.

Included are:

• Program for the 4th Annual G.A. Convention — Fresno, California — June 9–10, 1962
• Gamblers Anonymous — 20 Years — 1977
• National Service Office bulletins
• Gam-Anon Board material
• service and organizational records
• later correspondence concerning the history and wording of the G.A. Twelve Steps

A particularly important group of 1981 documents records internal discussion over possible changes to the G.A. recovery steps and includes correspondence seeking Jim Willis’s own historical perspective on their original wording and development.

Gamblers Anonymous in the Public Record

The collection preserves a substantial body of contemporary press and media coverage documenting the rapid public emergence of Gamblers Anonymous.

Highlights include:

• TIME — “Organizations: Gamblers Anonymous” — August 25, 1961
• The Saturday Evening Post — “Gamblers Anonymous” — May 26, 1962
• The Saturday Evening Post — “I Was a Compulsive Gambler” — August 23, 1958
• a four-part New York World-Telegram series — August 1–4, 1960
• New York Post and New York Mirror coverage — 1961
• LOOK — “If I Don’t Show Up, Please, Please Call Me” — 1968
• The New York Times — 1968
• ACE — “Gamblers Anonymous” — 1961
• Citizen-News coverage from Los Angeles
• ABC publicity material for “Monty Hall at Gamblers Anonymous” — 1974

The archive also includes the April 1948 Coronet article:

“Needed: A Gambler’s Anonymous”

Published nearly a decade before the recognized founding of G.A., the article advocated an Alcoholics Anonymous-style response to destructive gambling and provides important historical context for the broader idea of fellowship-based recovery for compulsive gamblers.

It is presented here as contextual material rather than as a Jim Willis or G.A. organizational artifact.

Founder Recognition & Historical Memory

As Gamblers Anonymous grew, preserving the fellowship’s early history and recognizing Jim Willis’s role became increasingly important.

Among the significant documents is Ray M.’s 1980 statement:

“Lest We Forget”

The document urges G.A. members to remember Willis’s contribution as the fellowship approached its 25th anniversary.

The historical arc culminates in one of the collection’s most important display artifacts:

G.A. Award of Appreciation and Love — 1982

Presented to Jim Willis at the 25th Anniversary Convention in Anaheim, California, the plaque identifies him as:

Founder of Gamblers Anonymous

and records the founding date of September 13, 1957.

It was presented shortly before Willis’s death in November 1983.

Founder-Family Provenance

The historical integrity of the collection is strengthened by its provenance.

The material was preserved through the papers of Addie Williams, daughter of Sybil Willis and stepdaughter of Jim Willis.

Founder-associated literature, retained correspondence, historical manuscripts, service material, press coverage, and other documents remained together within the family papers.

That continuity gives the archive significance beyond any single object.

What survives is not simply an assemblage of rare G.A. material, but a founder-family historical record documenting the people, literature, ideas, and institutions surrounding the emergence of Gamblers Anonymous.

Historical & Institutional Significance

The Jim Willis & Early Gamblers Anonymous Archive offers a rare opportunity to preserve and study the early history of a major recovery fellowship whose influence has extended far beyond its Los Angeles beginnings.

Its strongest research value lies in the combination of:

• founder-family provenance
• early and founding-era G.A. literature
• manuscript historical material
• direct A.A.–G.A. documentary connections
• organizational and service records
• contemporary press and media coverage
• founder-recognition material

The archive would be especially appropriate for a:

• museum or historical institution
• university or special-collections library
• recovery-history archive
• gambling-studies or addiction-history collection
• major private collection focused on recovery history

Selected materials are also being organized for historical and educational access through the Recovery Speakers Research Center, extending the archive’s value as a research resource while the physical collection remains intact.

Collection Highlights

Among the most significant items are:

• Alcoholicos Anonimos — Versión Castellana — December 1961
  Bound Spanish-language A.A. typescript inscribed to Jim Willis by multiple A.A. General Service Office figures.
• Gamblers Anonymous — First Edition / First Printing — 1964
  Inscribed by Jim Willis to Addie Williams.
• Gamblers Anonymous — Identification and Recovery — From: Jim W.
  Substantial historical typescript developed from Willis’s recollections and correspondence.
• Bill Wilson Letter to Jim Willis — August 25, 1964
  Family-retained copy documenting Wilson’s response to the new G.A. book.
• Questions and Answers About the Problem of Compulsive Gambling — First Printing — June 1962
• 4th Annual G.A. Convention Program — June 1962
• Ray M. — “Lest We Forget” — 1980
• G.A. Founder Recognition Plaque — 1982
• Extensive early press, service, convention, Gam-Anon, and historical gambling material

A detailed Master Inventory & Descriptive Catalog has been prepared for the collection.

Offered Intact

The Jim Willis & Early Gamblers Anonymous Archive is being offered as a single, intact historical collection.

Because much of its importance comes from the relationship between the manuscripts, literature, correspondence, family papers, and founder-associated material, there are no plans to divide the archive into individual pieces.

Price: $95,000

Serious institutional and private inquiries are welcome.

Additional photographs, catalog information, and research documentation are available upon request.