Preserving the life-saving message of Narcotics Anonymous by archiving and sharing its history

Motorcyle Ed

—

by

Art Margolis

,

Carol G.

and

Mark B.

in

Legacy: noun
[leɡəsē]

  1. An amount of money or property left to someone;
  2. The long-lasting impact of particular events, or actions that took place in a person’s past or life.

Preserving the Message’s first blog concluded with acknowledging Motorcycle Ed’s archives contribution.  The majority of content at the time of the public launch of the Preserving the Message website comes from his decision to have his archives digitized.  This second blog tells some of Motorcycle Ed’s story and why he decided to have his archives digitized.  But first, a little bit about Motorcycle Ed (Ed).

Pain inspired Ed to go to his first meeting, which just happened to be AA. “I was living in degradation although I sure couldn’t describe it.” One of the men at the meeting, Speedy M., twelve-stepped him early on. Speedy asked if “I was smoking left-handed cigarettes? Because you see, he could recognize and spot another addict there in that meeting.”

Ed shared “Bo S. proceeded to carry the message of Narcotics Anonymous to me after ear banging me for over 6 hours during the meeting after the meeting in his van.” Ed had to be at work at 8:00 am.  He and Bo parted ways at 3:00 am. Bo said, “It was time to stop using.” Ed replied, “I was looking for you.”

Ed used for the last time and came into the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous on May 2, 1977, in Marietta Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Motorcycle Ed said his initial imprinting of NA came from both Bo S. and Corrine S.  Corrine S. became his first sponsor and taught him the basics, which began with showing up 30 minutes early and staying 30 minutes after the meeting. Staying seated from the opening prayer to the final prayer. Taking notes of what was heard during the meeting, and calling directly after to discuss what was said.  

“We had no literature except the Little White Book and five IP pamphlets,” Ed recalled.  One Saturday morning, in the back room of his home, Bo was “hunting and pecking on an old typewriter, and a spark lit into a flame for me and many others. What would become the seed of the love affair,” is what Ed recounted. And in 1978 Bo S. became the World Literature Chair.

Also in 1978, Ed’s sponsor made sure he went to WCNA 8 in Houston.  Atlanta put in the bid for WCNA 9 and won the opportunity to host the World Convention in 1979.

Ed attended the 2nd World Literature Conference in Lincoln, NE (1980) and 4th World Literature Conference in Santa Monica, CA (1981).  He was the Georgia Regional Delegate from 1980 to 1982 and was at the World Service Conference when the Basic Text was approved in 1982.

Ed became the Georgia Convention chair in 1985 and began to speak regularly at conventions. “As a child, my teacher called me out.  I was way in the back of the room and couldn’t understand how she could even hear me. She predicted I would one day become a speaker as my voice was clear and carried.“

This came true for Ed who had the privilege of speaking at countless conventions, including the Quebec bilingual conference in 1997, and as the opening speaker at WCNA 29 in Atlanta in 2002.  

event flyer displaying a drawing of two people hugging and forming an NA symbol
1989 Québec Regional Convention flyer courtesy of Motorcycle Ed.

In his 47 years of recovery, Ed has accumulated a treasure trove of convention programs, flyers, meeting lists, minutes newsletters, registration forms, reports, and service materials.  Ed wants NA members to know their history.  These archives are more than physical documents.  They contain love, laughter, tears, and a commitment to service. 

card displaying the details for an event in 1983
1983 flyer for 9th Anniversary of N.A. in Georgia celebration, courtesy of Motorcycle Ed.

In 2020, Ed experienced a life-changing accident.  He was hospitalized, in bed for five months, and limited to a wheelchair.  This left a lot of time to think and reflect.  In particular, Ed began to wonder what would happen to his archives.  What could be done with them so others could access them?  He decided to give some of his archives to Mark and another two banker boxes to Boyd and Chris.  When he called Boyd to gauge his interest, Boyd responded without hesitation that he would take whatever Ed would give him.  Laughter ensued because Ed knew Boyd had no idea the breadth and depth of the accumulated items that he would donate. Of the 1,508 items on the Preserving the Message website, 1,015 are from Ed’s collection.  Because of Ed’s decision, his archives have been preserved and can now be viewed by anyone with access to the Internet.

Like Ed, some readers of this blog have also wondered what will become of their NA archives.  Hopefully, Ed’s story will inspire others to preserve their archives.  In addition to serving as a repository for archives, Preserving the Message will provide information, resources, and a community of people to facilitate archival work. 

In regards to resources, here are two that Preserving the Message benefited from:

  1. A.A.’s Archives Workbook has been informative and instructional in approaching archival work.
  2. The Lesbian Herstory Archives is a website we were made aware of when developing the Preserving the Message website.

We hope that you find these resources valuable in your pursuit of preserving NA’s history.