Robert Holbrook Smith, known simply as "Dr. Bob" in the AA community, was born on August 8, 1879 in St. Johnsbury, VT, the only son of Judge and Mrs. W.P. Smith. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1902 and three years later entered the University of Michigan as a premed student. In 1910, after further training at Rush Memorial College in Chicago, he received his medical degree and secured an internship in City Hospital, Akron, Ohio. In 1912, he began his career as a medical doctor and surgeon. He married Anne Ripley in 1915. They had two children, Susan and Robert.

Smith was an active member of the City Hospital staff in Akron, Ohio, and had frequent contacts with nearby St. Thomas Hospital, where in 1928 he met Sister Ignatia who later became an influential person in Smith's work with recovering alcoholics. Later, in 1935, he became professionally associated with St. Thomas Hospital and in 1943 became a member of its permanent active staff.

Smith started drinking as a young adult and continued to drink heavily during the early years of his marriage and professional career. As his alcoholism progressed steadily, he began a desperate search for an answer to his problem. With strong encouragement and support from his wife, Anne R. Smith, he started attending meetings of the Oxford Group, a Christian evangelical fellowship, founded by Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman in 1919 and considered to be a forerunner of AA because of its emphasis on self-examination, acknowledgement of character defects, restitution of harm done, reliance on God, and working with others.

In May of 1935, Smith, still struggling with alcohol addiction, met William G. Wilson ("Bill W."), who was on a business trip to Akron, Ohio and on the verge of a relapse into alcoholism. The two became friends and were able to support one another in their struggles with alcohol addiction. They began reading the Bible together, offered each other support, engaged in long discussions and reviewed Oxford Group ideas, all of which were influential in the development of AA and its pioneering 12-step recovery program.

Smith died of cancer at City Hospital in Akron, Ohio, on November 16, 1950.

The Robert Holbrook Smith ("Dr. Bob") collection, most of which dates from 1936 to 1992, consists of a wide variety of materials, including an extensive selection of books and other printed materials; correspondence; manuscripts; business papers; photographs; certificates, awards and bonds; ephemera; and an assortment of artifacts. These materials are primarily associated with Robert Holbrook Smith and the organization he founded with William G. Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous. It also includes materials associated with William G. Wilson; Anne Ripley Smith and Lois Burnham Wilson, the respective spouses of Smith and Wilson; and other family members, friends and AA associates. The images in this collection are a small sampling of the materials available.

Go to the Brown University Library catalog record for his collection Robert Holbrook Smith ("Dr. Bob") collection for more information.

For a list of all the books from the personal library of Robert Holbrook Smith search for "Robert Holbrook Smith Collection (Brown University)" in the Brown University Library Catalog or use this link Robert Holbrook Smith Collection (Brown University)