Vinyl: 30 Golden Recordings Father John Doe, Ralph Pfau, Alcoholics Anonymous records

Complete LP Set of Father Ralph Pfau, aka Fr. John Doe, Golden Books Records (Original Sobriety & Beyond Recordings), Historic Alcoholics Anonymous Collectibles from the 1940s and 1950s!

This scarce set includes all of the vinyl Golden Records, recordings of the famous “Golden Books.” This set was issued as Sobriety and Beyond before they issued them as the Golden Set. Originally they were sold only in 4 record sets until after all his talks were completed. This complete set has the original 30 records with 4-5 different colored labels. All in excellent condition as are the boxes the records are encased in. This set also includes the original shipping box for S.M.T. which will be mailed in yet another box for safety.

The set of 30 records (12 inch vinyl LP recordings) in five boxes is in very good condition. The records appear to have been handled very little. I have played each of these albums on my Audiology USB Turntable and the all play fine with no problems.

Father Ralph S. Pfau, also known as Father John Doe (10 November 1904 – 19 February 1967) was the author of Sobriety Without End, Sobriety and Beyond and the Golden Book series. He is believed to have been the first Roman Catholic priest to enter Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). With the approval of his Archbishop, he devoted himself to helping other alcoholics, particularly alcoholic priests. He traveled more than 50,000 miles a year to address meetings, conduct retreats and help individuals. His retreats were attended by thousands of Catholics and by many more thousands who were not Catholics. His retreat talks were eventually published in a series of 14 Golden Books. They were so named because when he held the second annual retreat in June of 1947, at the request of some of the people who had attended the first retreat his talks were printed in a fifty-six page booklet with a gold cover, and distributed as a souvenir, through the generosity of the owner of the archdiocesan newspaper in Indianapolis. People began requesting copies of “the golden book of your retreat.” In 1948 he founded the National Clergy Conference on Alcoholism, an organization devoted to the problems of priests, and directed it for many years. Its publications, especially “Alcoholism Source Book for Priests,” and the annual “Blue Book,” made a deep impact on the American Catholic Hierarchy.

Father Pfau is remembered as one of the most popular and influential characters in the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. The records contain actual recordings of the material he conveyed during his popular AA talks in the 1940’s and 50’s.

All the talks on GOLDEN RECORDINGS were originally Retreat talks, the first of which was given in the fall of 1945. In 1947 responding to many requests for copies of these talks, the first ones were published in the GOLDEN BOOK OF THE SPIRITUAL SIDE. This little volume containing the talk “The Spiritual Side of Alcoholics Anonymous” has since sold over 50,000 copies, and the talk itself has been given by the author to over a thousand A. A. Groups throughout the United States and Canada. Also in 1947 at the Texas State A.A. Convention at Austin, Texas, the same talk given at the Convention, was acclaimed by Bill W. the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous as “a talk which should be heard by every member of A.A. throughout the world.”

To enable many more to hear Father John Doe, the author of these books, talks taken from THE GOLDEN BOOKS, SOBRIETY AND BEYOND, and SOBRIETY WITHOUT END now comprise the 30 GOLDEN RECORDINGS. They are: “The Spiritual Side of Alcoholics Anonymous”; “Resentments”; “Action”; “Excuses”; “Decisions”; “Serenity”; “Humility”; “The Lord’s Prayer”; “Honesty”; “Tolerance”; “Easy Does It”; “Attitudes”; “Father John Doe — Alcoholic”; “Anonymity”; “Weakness is Strength”; “The Will of God”; “The Myth of Perfection”; “Alcoholism — Sin or Disease”; “We’re Not Different”; “The Paradox of Giving”; “Life is a Selfish Program”; “The Principles of A.A.”; four recordings on The Twelve Steps as follows: “The 12 Steps-I” (1-2-3); “The 12 Steps-II (4-5-6); The 12 Steps III” (7-8-9-10); “The 12 Steps-IV” (11-12); “A Sense of Humor”; “Live – And Let Live”; “Restore Us to Sanity”; and “Death — A Meditation”; and have been recorded “live” on 33 1/3 LP 12 inch records. All of these talks average 35-45 minutes, and are custom pressed by RCA Victor. I believe these, although at Catholic Retreats, were actually AA Speaker Meetings with Father Ralph Pfau at the speaker each time.

In saying that, if you are not Christian, you may not enjoy these records as much as a Christian. Being a Father, his recordings contain a moderate (sometimes more, sometimes less) amount of Christian Theology, sometimes mentioning Bible passages and Jesus and his beliefs. Just an observation. Still in all, there is a lot of AA in each of these albums.

Please email with any questions.