Correspondence: Letters to and from Thomas Merton

Item set

Title

Creator

Thomas Merton See all item sets with this value

Date

1931-1968, with some ancillary letters to or from Merton family members from 1909 and letters to or from the Merton Center dating the period after Merton's death See all item sets with this value

Identifier

Thomas Merton Collection, Section A: Correspondence.

Volume

40 cubic feet; 16 file drawers

Subject

Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968--Correspondence. See all item sets with this value

Format

Paper records in file folders

Items

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Certificate of the baptism of Thomas Merton (baptism: November 16, 1938; and certificate issued October 13, 1939) at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, New York

The certificate states that Thomas Merton was baptized by Fr. Joseph Moone at Corpus Christi parish. His baptismal sponsor was Edward Rice. Fr. Kenealy of Corpus Christi issued the certificate.
1964-08-25: Letter to Merton from "Bruyn, Marcella van, Dame, O.S.B."

The letter is not dated by month and day, but is stated as "Feast of St. Louis, 1964," which would be August 25th.
Photograph from the correspondence of Dame Marcella van Bruyn, O.S.B. and Thomas Merton. Color photograph of van Bruyn at Stanbrook Abbey.

Dame Marcella sends Merton the photograph in her letter of June 8, 1966.
Photograph from Daniel Berrigan's correspondence with Thomas Merton. Daniel Berrigan is pictured in a blue plaid shirt in center with Merton seated on the photo's left and Phillip Berrigan on the far right (Tony Walsh with back to the camera).

The photograph was taken at an August 1962 retreat.
Photograph from Fr. Timóteo Amoroso Anastácio, O.S.B. correspondence with Thomas Merton.

A photo dated 1956-07-25 sent by Fr. Timoteo Amoroso Anastacio of workers in a field.
1968-12-11: Telegram from the Abbot of Gethsemani Abbey [Dom Flavian Burns, OCSO] to Mrs. Thomas Gaither [Marice "Mimi" Gaither] regarding Thomas Merton's death

Mimi Gaither was a long-time supporter of Gethsemani Abbey and frequently sent donations for Mass intentions. The Merton Center has letters between Merton and Gaither from 1952 to 1968. In this telegram sent to friends of Merton, Dom Flavian Burns informs Gaither that Merton has died in Bangkok, Thailand.
1968-07-11: Letter from Thomas Merton to August Schou, Secretary of the Nobel Prize Committee, recommending Vinoba Bhave for the Nobel Peace Prize
1965-03-09: Letter from Thomas Merton to Robert D. Crane (with handwritten annotations by Crane)

Robert D. Crane was a Research Associate with the Center for Strategic Studies and was later with the Hudson Institute for National Security and International Order in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. He was involved in Republican Party functions and conservative-leaning think-tanks on national and international security and outer space security. He was a chief advisor to Richard Nixon from 1962-1967. In 1980, he converted to Islam and took the name Farooq Abdul Haq.
1962-08-09: Letter from Thomas Merton to Shinzo Hamai, Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan
1971-02-02 #2: Book promotional advertisement for The Virtue of Sex by José de Vinck with a blurb by Thomas Merton. Sent by de Vinck to the Merton Center with a letter of 2 February 1971.