History
Dartmouth History
Many at Dartmouth have addressed issues related to alcohol and other drug use. Here we include a selection of articles on this topic by or about Dartmouth founders, alumni, and faculty throughout Dartmouth history.
Eleazar Wheelock early on expressed concerns about "the health and safety" of Dartmouth students related to their use of alcohol. Excerpt from Eleazar Wheelock and the Adventurous Founding of Dartmouth College (posted with permission).
Samson Occom (Mohegan) is one of the founding members of Dartmouth College. He was one of the first on this continent to call attention to some of the harmful social effects of alcohol use, particularly among native peoples. Peter Mancall in a publication of Cornell University Press says that Occom identified social costs of alcohol use in "what became the most famous printed assault of any Indian on the liquor trade." (Quote is from Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America by Peter C. Mancall, Cornell University Press.) The original broadside is housed in the Special Collection, Rauner Library at Dartmouth College.
Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith ("Dr. Bob"), Class of 1902. Dr. Bob was identified in a special issue of The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, April 1994, as being a founding member of Alcoholics Anonymous. We’d like to note here that Alcoholics Anonymous itself is NOT allied with any institution or organization. Dr. Bob’s son, Bob R. Smith, in an address at Dartmouth College in April 2003, also noted that Alcoholics Anonymous is not the only way into recovery from alcoholism, a position often expressed by early members, and a position of staff at the Center. There is ample evidence that it has been and continues to prove effective for many, with A.A.’s central office noting over two million members throughout the world.
Dartmouth Alumni Magazine - Special Issue, April 1994 Dr. Bob Smith as a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
Center History
Information presently being compiled.
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