I have tried to identify all that I could find to identify for myself and other readers of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous,© here. Many are well known already, some not so known. Most of the information comes from AAWS published or other recovery oriented literature. A small percentage is based on word of mouth information. The later I have included only if I could seem to verify it with more than one unrelated source. Concerning use of names, I cannot guarantee that this file won't be seen by individuals who are not members of AA, so I have tried to use first name and last initials only for AA members in the spirit of our Traditions.
But what use is all this? Admittedly, when I first started making the margin notes about this information it was probably more for what I call Jeopardy knowledge ... information whose sole purpose is to impress others. And yes, I did find some easily impressed folks. At some point I started using it to identify individuals associated with little stories in the pages so I could find out more about them and how they stayed sober. When sponsoring folks I often refer them to find 'more of the story' to parts or people they seem (or might be likely) to identify with. Sometimes that's based on them telling me about something they've read. Other times I might base their assigned readings on geographic local, occupations, service history, etc that I think they may identify. Although it has died down somewhat, the issue of how to address 'outside issues', especially those cousins of alcohol, that are part of many of our stories can be addressed by studying how they are handled in the Story section of the Big Book. Those are just a few of the uses I have made of this information. Hopefully you will find it useful also in studying the Big Book and working with others

? -marks mean just that. Where possible, many are followed by a "best guess", but there is still some uncertainty that guess is correct.