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This letter is signed by five Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky. All signatures bear the hand of the letter's author, and the first name is Sr. Jude, who is the person addressed by Merton. The other sisters are Susan, Anne, Deborah and Luke in the order listed in the letter. The author of the letter explains to Merton that the sisters are experimenting with living as groups of five. Merton responds with his views on community in a monastic setting.

At the time of this correspondence, William Jovanovich was writing from New York as President of Harcourt, Brace and World.

Sr. Marie Josèphe was a Benedictine nun of Saint Louis du Temple Abbey in France.

Sr. Maria José de Jesus was a Carmelite nun of the Convent of St. Teresa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Jorgensen compares Merton to C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Fr. Placid Jordan was a Benedictine monk of Beuron Abbey in Germany. He had quite a storied past as a journalist. A convert to Catholicism in 1924, Max Jordan was one of the pioneering news reporters for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States. He broke many of the stories concerning Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany in the 1930's and followed the anti-Hitler underground through the duration of World War II. Based on his experiences of the war, Jordan wrote the book «Beyond All Fronts: A Bystander's Notes on This Thirty Years War». After the war, as many of his colleagues rose to prominence, Jordan joined a Swiss congregation of Benedictines at Beuron Abbey in Germany in the year 1954. He took the name Placid. He would again don a journalistic role in covering the Second Vatican Council, working for the news service of the National Catholic Welfare Council (NCWC). (Sources: McLeod, Elizabeth. "Max Jordan -- NBC's Forgotten Pioneer". Broadcasting History Resources website. 1998. ‹http://www.midcoast.com/~lizmcl/jordan.html›, accessed 2005/05/06. See also student newspaper clipping in correspondence folder of 1962/01/16.)

Lindsay Jones writes from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She may have had class with Amiya Chakravarty, who put two other Smith students in contact with Merton, Diana Eck and Janice Wilson.

While visiting Redwoods Abbey in the spring of 1968, Merton met Gracie Jones. (She is of no relation to Frank Jones of Merton's correspondence.) She wrote an article for the San Francisco archdiocesan newspaper after Merton's death discussing the meaningfulness to her of sharing retreat space with Merton, his support for her as an African-American Catholic, and his offer to write a preface for a book she had planned to write, "The Negro and the Catholic Church."

Frank Jones owned property along the northern California coast at Bear Harbor. While visiting Redwoods Abbey in the spring of 1968, Merton met him and his wife and inquired about land for a new hermitage. By September, Jones agreed he was interested in selling; however, by that time, Merton was considering hermitage locations in Asia.

Fr. William Johnston is an Irish Jesuit and scholar in the realm of mysticism and the East-West dialog. Since 1951, he has lived in Japan and was a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo while writing to Merton. Since 1967, he has written a number of books on mysticism and the Christian encounter with Zen.

Ronald Johnson was a poet and common friend of Merton's with poet Jonathan Williams. Merton sent Johnson one of his drawings and Johnson sent Merton some of his poems, including his book «The Green Man».

Margaret Johnson was Program Assistant for the Danforth Foundation, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. She was acknowledging Merton's recommendation for the E. Harris Harbison Award for Distinguished Teaching. Merton recommended Bellarmine College professor John H. (Jack) Ford.

Lyndon Johnson was the United States' thirty-sixth President. Merton writes to him to express concern about the Vietnam War and the threat of nuclear war with communist nations, citing "Pacem in Terris" from the Second Vatican Council. He thanks Johnson for his commitment to civil rights and the war on poverty.

Poet Halvard Johnson was born in Newburgh, New York, and spent his boyhood in both in small Hudson Valley towns and New York. He spent his years after college in Ohio hitchhiking around the United States in the late 1950's. After graduate study in English at University of Chicago, he began teaching at the University of Texas, El Paso for four years. Near the end of his time in Texas, he sent Merton some poems for «Monks Pond». After this, he taught in Puerto Rico, traveled Europe, and now has returned to his native New York where he writes and teaches at the New School. A number of his books of poetry have been published. (Source: Monks Pond, pp. 109 and 207.)

George Johnson was on the Catholic Worker staff. He visited Gethsemani in late February 1962 with Jim Forest and others. Merton mentions this meeting in his journal entry of March 2, 1962.

Mrs. Edward M. Johnson writes from Worcester, Massachusetts.

Italian-born Angelo Guiseppe Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope in 1958 taking the name Pope John XXIII. Seen as a transitory pope because he was in his late seventies, he initiated the Second Vatican Council, ushering in the most sweeping changes to the Roman Catholic Church in centuries. In 1960, he sent Merton one of his stoles and a signed photograph. Merton wrote a letter concerning the threat of nuclear war, the war machine in the United States, and Merton's support for the peace movement. Pope John's secretary Monsignor Capovilla expressed that the Holy Father was "impressed" by the letter and pleased by his writings on peace and dialog with Protestants. Bl. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was beatified in 2000. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 481.)

Sr. John Maureen writes from Medford, Oregon.

Br. Jerome was a Xaverian brother and part of a community that administered and taught at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky. He asks Merton for guidance in providing direction to a gifted but troubled young member of the community.

Harold Brewster Jenkins was Merton's uncle on his mother's side. He married Elsie Hauck Holahan in 1938. (See "Jenkins, Elsie" for a more complete description).

After the death of Thomas and John Paul Merton's mother in 1921, Elsie Hauck Holahan came into the house of Merton's maternal grandparents, the Jenkins, to help take care of the two boys. She stayed in the household to take care of Merton's grandmother, "Mattie" Baldwin Jenkins. Elsie Hauck was the widow of Captain Patrick Holahan, who had fought in the Easter Rebellion in Ireland in 1916. After both of Thomas Merton's grandparents had died, his uncle, Harold Brewster Jenkins, inherited his parents house and married Elsie Hauck in 1938. When Merton moved back to Long Island in the 1930's, he grew close to Elsie's mother, Freida "Nanny" Hauck. Nancy Hauck Boettcher informed Merton in 1964 of Nanny's poor health and sent him a telegram in 1965 informing him of her death. Merton writes with his condolescences to Elsie. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 57 and 71.)

Dom Claude Jean-Nesmy was a Benedictine monk of La Pierre-Qui-Vire Abbey in Yonne, France. He inquires about publishing some selections from Merton's writings in translation in French in the monastery's journal, «Temoignages». He is also interested in translating more of Merton's work into French.

The Rev. Elbert Jean was a member of the Committee of Southern Churchmen and a friend of Will Campbell. He recommends that Merton collaborate with the group. He was an advocate for the poor and worked in support of the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans. Rev. Jean wrote to Merton from Franklin, Tennessee.

Maria Cooper Janis is daughter of actor Gary Cooper. Janis is a painter, is interested in parapsychology, and has recently written a book about her father and his life off camera. A letter she had sent the year of her father's death is not extant, but there is a copy of Merton's reply. He relates having enjoyed watching Cooper movies before entering the monastery and jokes, "I even had a temptation to hope that if the Seven Storey Mountain became a film, he would play in it. This was a clear case of vanity on my part!!"

Although not mentioned directly in the correspondence, Sr. Janet was likely a Sister of Mercy. The verson of Merton's letter to her addresses it to "Sister M. Janet / Holy Innocents Convent" in Brooklyn, New York.

Stephen James was founder and President of the Peace Hostage Exchange Foundation, headquartered in New York. The idea was to send delegations from the United States to strategic targets in the Soviet Union and vice versa. The hope was to get some prominent individuals, like Merton or Robert Kennedy, to go over and to get Premier Krushchev's family and others to come here in exchange.

Fr. Bruno Scott James (later Monsignor) was a Catholic priest from England who asked Merton's help in putting together a book of translations of «The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux». Inspired by a book by Morris West about Don Mario Borelli in the slums of Naples, James moves to Naples in the early sixties to found John Henry Newman College, which served as a residence for students at the University of Naples. After writing other books on Bernard of Clairvaux and on prayer, James wrote an autobiography entitled «Asking for Trouble» in 1962.

Br. James was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani.

Marianne Jahn writes from New York.

Nell L. Jaffe was Assistant to the Director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.

Fr. M. Jacques was a monk of the Trappist Abbey of Cîteaux in France.

H. L. Jacobson was Director of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) International Trade Centre, publishers of «International Trade FORUM». He writes from Geneva, Switzerland.

Fr. Thomas W. Jackson was Catholic Chaplain for the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh.

H. Merrill Jackson was on faculty at the Center for Studies in Education and Development at Harvard University. Two of his letters to Merton bear the letterhead of the Division of Christian Life and Mission with the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. He asks Merton to send reply letters to the Social Change Project of Detroit, Michigan.

Homer Jack was a Unitarian Universalist minister and activist for civil rights and peace. He was writing to Merton as Executive Secretary of the group SANE, "A Citizens’ Organization for a Sane World", from 1960-1964.

Dr. Lalla Iverson was Director of the Association for Rural Aid in Medicine (ARAM). She writes from Rockville, Maryland.

Sadhu Ittyavirah was a Catholic author from India who sent Merton some of his books, including «The Witness», «1+1=1» and «We Are One».

Dom Clemente José Carlos Isnard was a Benedictine monk who became Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Carmen Irizarry was born in Puerto Rico. After spending some time in Spain, she moved to New York to work for the Catholic magazine, «Jubilee». She writes at the suggestion of Merton's friend, Bob Lax.

Br. Irenaeus was a tailor at Gethsemani Abbey.

The ITMS came into being in 1987 to promote a greater knowledge of the life and writings of Thomas Merton, one of the most influential religious figures of our time. The Society sponsors biennial conferences devoted to Merton and his work and supports the writing of general-interest and scholarly books and articles about Merton. In addition the ITMS awards regular grants to researchers and scholarships to youth. It encourages a variety of activities such as Merton retreats. Local Chapters and Affiliates of the ITMS across the world reflect a wide range of personal interest and approaches to Thomas Merton.

Fr. Innocent seems to have been a Trappist monk of Gethsemani. He writes the first letter on a trip to the Benedictine monastery of St-Benoît-du-Lac in Quebec, Canada, which he describes as possessing the idea of "hermits in community".

Born William Archibald McGirt, Jr., Will Inman wrote under his mothers maiden name and the name it was legally changed to in 1973, Inman. Inman was a poet, essayist and activist for causes such as civil rights, gay rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War.

Grace Ingalls writes on behalf of the United Church Press from Boston, Massachusetts, a ministry of the United Church of Christ.

Sr. Inez of the Blessed Trinity was a Carmelite nun of Bramshott in England.

Born in Vienna in 1926, Ivan Illich was the co-founder of the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He has organized seminars on "Institutional Alternatives in a Technological Society" and trained priest in the culture of Latin America. (Source: The Ivan Illich Archive, ‹http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~ira/illich/biography.html›.)

Takashi Ikemoto and Yuji Nakata translated «Mystics and Zen Masters» into Japanese. He writes from Yamaguchi City, Japan.

David Ignatow is a poet who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and wrote much about the urban experience. He became a professor teaching at the University of Kentucky, University of Kansas, and later returning to the northeast and Columbia University. Not long before going to Columbia, he was at Vassar College. This was where he was in contact with Merton about poems for «Monks Pond». He also taught a student from Vassar with whom Merton had been corresponding, Nancy Fly Bredenberg.

Luis M. Iglesias Ortega was a Dominican priest and author writing from Villava in the north of Spain.

Philosopher, social critic, and author of books such as his most famous, «Brave New World», Aldous Huxley was born and educated in England and moved to the California in the 1930's. Becoming ever more critical of Western civilization and the dehumanizing character of technology, Huxley became drawn to Eastern philosophy and religion and to mysticism. Merton was influenced early on by Huxley though his book, «Ends and Means». Similar views on technology, Eastern philosophy, and mysticism appear in Merton's thinking, as well. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 436.)

At the time of writing, John Hunt was Senior Editor of «The Saturday Evening Post».

Dorothy Hunt was Assistant Editor of «The Critic», published by the Thomas More Association, Chicago, Illinois.

H. Stuart Hughes was a scholar of the intellectual history of Europe, author, and professor at Harvard University at the time of writing to Merton. His first letter to Merton is written shortly after a failed bid for United States Senator of Massachusetts on an Independent ticket, losing to Ted Kennedy in 1962. Previously, Merton had been contacted by the group Artists and Writers for Hughes, to whom he sent a reply with some contributions of his writing. Hughes was involved in the Massachusetts Political Action for Peace, which awarded Merton their Pax Peace Prize in 1963. His 1967 telegram is written while Chair of the SANE, "A Citizens’ Organization for a Sane World", which called for worldwide nuclear disarmament. (Sources: "H. Stuart Hughes: In Memoriam." «Perspectives»: March 2000. American Historical Association website. ‹http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2000/0003/0003mem2.cfm›, Accessed: 2005/04/28.)

Catherine Hughes seems to have been an editor at Sheed and Ward publishers.

Br. Hugh was a Trappist from Gethsemani writing about a minor issue of sorting mail with Merton while he was visiting the Trappistine nuns at Redwoods Monastery in California.

Sr. James Ellen Huff was the College Librarian for Catherine Spalding College in Louisville (now known as Spalding University) at the time of writing.

Jack Huber writes from New York in thanks for Merton's comment on Huber's book «Through and Eastern Window». He was a clinical psychologist who wrote a book on Zen.

Cornelius Hubbuch made a substantial gift to Bellarmine College to pay for a library renovation necessary for the creation of the Merton Room. As a token of thanks, Merton sends Mr. and Mrs. Hubbuch one of his abstract drawings.

Fr. William Hubbell writes from Lexington, Kentucky.

Barbara Hubbard was a futurist scholar and, in 1992, became the President and co-founder of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, whose vision is "the awakening of the spiritual, social, and scientific potential of humanity, in harmony with nature for the highest good of all life." Hubbard earned degrees from Bryn Mawr College, the Sorbonne and L’Ecole des Sciences Politiques in Paris. In addition, she was awarded the Emerson Theological Institute's first Doctor of Conscious Evolution degree. She was a nominee for Vice-President on the Democratic ticket in 1984 and had since advocated for a Peace Room in the White House. Her work in the futurist field began in the 1960's when she began a pioneering newsletter in evolutionary transformation entitled The Center Letter of the Center of American Living in New York. She writes to Merton from Lakeville, Connecticut. (Source: "About FCE’s Founder, Dr. Barbara Marx Hubbard". Foundation for Conscious Evolution, ‹https://www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/leadership›, Accessed 2020/04/15.)

Roger Hubank was a student at Cambridge University, where Merton spent his first year of college. He is a Catholic who asks about the relationship of Catholic authority and censorship in relation to authors, especially Catholic authors. He also questions some of Merton's criticism of D.H. Lawrence in «Elected Silence» and «The Sign of Jonas».

Jo Hubacher writes from Toledo, Ohio.

Bob Hoyt writes as Editor of the National Catholic Reporter from Kansas City, Missouri.

Fr. Robert Hovda writes from the St. Paul's Student Center at North Dakota State University in Fargo. He asks Merton's help in putting together contemporary Prayers of the Faithful for the Liturgical Conference in Washington, D.C. He was best known for his work in liturgical renewal but was also deeply involved in peace, civil rights, and social justice concerns. He has published a number of books on liturgy.

Msgr. Alfred Horrigan, Bellarmine's first president, served from 1950-1973. He assisted Fr. John Loftus in the establishment of the Merton collection at Bellarmine.

Merton writes to Vintila Horia in Madrid, Spain. Horia was a Romanian novelist, poet and essayist writing in French. His best known novel was «Dieu est né en exil» (God was born in exile).

Lorna Hooper was Secretary of the West Campaigners against Factory Farming / West of England Campaign against Factory Farming (WECAFF). She writes from Bristol, England.

Edwin Honig writes as a professor in the Department of English at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Fr. Edward Holtam was an Episcopal priest of the Society of St. John the Evangelist and writes from Cambridge, Massachusetts. They discuss an article Merton wrote about Christian non-violence.

Jim Holloway came to Berea College in 1965 where he would remain as a professor before retiring in 1992. He was co-founder with Will Campbell of «Katallagete» (Greek for "be reconciled!"), a magazine sponsored by the Committee of Southern Churchmen (CSC) and to which Merton contributed. Holloway served as editor.

Anselm Hollo was a professor in the Department of English at University of Iowa in Iowa City at the time of correspondence with Merton. He was a Finnish poet who lived for a time on the Isle of Wight, and, since 1968, has taught at a number of universities in the United States. His translations of poems and his own poems are found throughout Merton's little literary magazine «Monks Pond». He has published a number of books of his poetry and of poetry in translation.

Hallock Hoffman writes from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California, and was a colleague of W. H. "Ping" Ferry.