William White Library

A Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Archive including the William White Papers

Originally a depository of research for William "Bill" White’s award-winning Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America, this archive has grown to one of the largest (220,000+ catalogued items) specialty collections in the world on the history of addiction and recovery through the support of Chestnut Health Systems, Lighthouse Institute, the State of Illinois, and the contributions of many other individuals and institutions. Since its inception, the Archives has been a resource for addiction treatment professionals, research scientists, authors, doctoral students, and documentary filmmakers.

William White was one of the three individuals who founded Chestnut Health Systems in 1973 with the goal of moving people with alcohol use disorder out of the criminal justice system and into community-based detoxification and treatment. After leaving Chestnut to work on various National Institute on Drug Abuse workforce development training projects and then direct a hospital-based addiction treatment unit, he returned to Chestnut to found the Lighthouse Institute in 1986.

The William White Library is committed to providing an exceptional resource to addiction professionals, students of addiction sciences, and all others interested in the field of addiction treatment and recovery.

“When you know your history, you know your value. You know the price that has been paid for you to be here. You recognize what those who came before you built and sacrificed for you to inhabit the space in which you dwell.”

                                                                                                                -Cicely Tyson

PROFESSIONAL & ADVOCACY WRITING

This site contains the full text of more than 300 articles, 8 monographs, 30+ recovery tools, 9 book chapters, 3 books, and links to an additional 18 books written by William White and co-authors over the past four decades as well as more than 100 interviews with addiction treatment and recovery leaders. The purpose of this site is to create a single location where such material may be located by those interested in the history of addiction treatment and recovery in the United States. Those papers selected for inclusion contain all of the articles and monographs authored by William White on the new recovery advocacy movement, recovery management and recovery-oriented systems of care. It is hoped that this resource library will serve present and future generations of addiction professionals, recover coaches and recovery advocates. 

A BRIEF HISTORY

Throughout the 1990s, key Chestnut leaders became increasingly aware that the field of addiction treatment was undergoing threats to its basic character and very existence. These threats ranged from aggressive managed care that was altering access to treatment to a broader demedicalization of addiction problems. Concerned about these changes, they explored how the best within the history of the field might be captured for future generations. A textbook and an archive were envisioned that could collectively tell the story of addiction in America and the profession that was birthed to respond to it. Work on the book proceeded through the 1990s and culminated in the publication of William White's Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America in 1998.

Parallel efforts were sustained to launch the Illinois Addiction Studies Archive (which was renamed the William White Library in 2024). With support from the Chestnut's Board of Directors and a seed grant from the Illinois Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, (now known as Illinois Department of Human Services/Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery) key acquisitions were made and organized for use by addiction researchers and as educational tools for professionals working within the field. William White contributed his own collection of books, monographs and artifacts, which made up a large portion of the original collection. The Illinois Addiction Studies Archive officially opened October 29, 1998.

The collection consists of approximately 1,500 volumes of literary work ranging in publication dates from 1834 to the present. Artifacts include antique medicine bottles, labels, photographs, manuscripts, memorabilia, historic advertising material, and other articles of interest to the addiction professional. The Archive was renamed the William White Library in 2024. 

The Library is available by appointment for viewing. For further information, please contact:

William L. White
bwhite@chestnut.org