Leif Gustafson was a Radio Officer for UNEF (United Nations Emergency Force to secure the troop withdrawal from Egypt and keep peace with Israel). He was originally from Sweden and a convert to Catholicism. The UNEF headquarters was Beirut, Lebanon, but Gustafson traveled throughout Palestine and writes from Gaza.
Romuald Gustaw was a Franciscan from the Library of the Catholic University in Lublin, Poland.
D. Grafton Gwynn was the author of poetry, novels and an autobiography that he was trying to publish at the time of correspondence with Merton. Merton provides Gwynn with some feedback on his poems. Gwynn writes from Baltimore, Maryland.
Foster Hailey was a «New York Times» correspondent who spent much of the 1950's on assignment in the Middle East. It seems the two men were acquainted and corresponded prior to this 1961 letter and had last been in touch in the late 1950's.
Alfred B. Hailparn was a friend of Merton's while at Columbia University. Hailparn's father was a liquor distributor in Yonkers, to which Merton makes reference in the second letter. In 1936, Merton was the editor-in-chief of the Columbia yearbook, «Columbian», and Hailparn was managing editor. They were working on the yearbook for May of 1937. (Source: «Witness to Freedom», p. 156.)
Fr. Amédée Hallier was a Trappist monk of the Abbay of Notre-Dame de Grâce in Bricquebec, Normany, France. He wrote «Un éducateur monastique», a book about St. Aelred of Rievaulx. Merton wrote an introduction which was published in the English language edition. The book was published in English as «The Monastic Tehology of Aelred of Rievaulx».
Fr. Columba Halsey was a Benedictine monk of St. Maur's Priory in South Union, Kentucky. The monastery was unique in the United States as having been established as a racially integrated community when it was founded in 1947 on the grounds of a Shaker village.
The Honorable Shinzo Hamai was Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan.
Alfred Starr Hamilton was a poet and contributor to «Monks Pond». In his biographical statement from «Monks Pond», he states that he had lived through the depression and spent a year in the army; since then, he became a socialist and lived on very little money as a poet.
Fr. Hamman was a Franciscan writing from Notre Dame des Buis in Besançon, France.
Carolyn Reading married Victor Hammer in 1955. The Hammers became good friends of Merton, who received permission to visit them in Lexington. Merton would later write to Carolyn to obtain books because of her position at the King Library at University of Kentucky. This was a bond that help University of Kentucky establish a small collection of Merton's papers.
Veronica (Moni) Hammer was a daughter of Victor Hammer and writes from Vienna, Austria.
Victor Hammer was an artist and typographer originally from Vienna. He moved to the United States as Hitler rose to power and took a position at Wells College in New York. In 1948, he retired from Wells College and became artist-in-residence at Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky. He brought a hand press he had used in Italy to Lexington and printed under his Italian imprint of Stamperia del Santuccio. The letters do not tell when the two first met, but by the first letter from Hammer in 1955, he states that he had been to Gethsemani and exchanged ideas with Merton already and was friends with Br. Giles. Merton also received permission to visit Victor and Carolyn Hammer in Lexington. On one trip in 1959, Merton saw a triptych painted by Victor. Hammer had intended to paint a Madonna and child but it did not turn out right. In the center panel, a woman crowns a child. Merton declared her to be "Hagia Sophia", the Holy Wisdom of God, which prompted Merton to write his poem "Hagia Sophia". (Source: «Witness to Freedom», p. 3.)
Jim Hampton writes from the Bluegrass Bureau in Lexington, Kentucky, of the Louisville newspaper «The Courier-Journal».
Herman Hanekamp was born in Oldenburg, Germany in 1884. After immigration to the United States in 1904, not much is known other than a couple of years he spent as a cowboy in Texas before riding a horse to Gethsemani when he entered in 1912 (account by Raymond DeSutter [formerly Fr. M. Robert in religious life during his time at Gethsemani]. Hanekamp had taken simple vows but was dismissed in 1917. After leaving vowed religious life, he contnued to live near the monastery. Whether Hanekamp was officially given land that was later reaquired by the abbey is uncertain. He had a small dwelling and raised crops, goats, and pigs. He died in 1958.
Monsignor James J. Hammon was Chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Natchez, Mississippi.
Charles Hansel was Director of Religious Life at Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky.
Fr. Deryck Hanshell was a Jesuit priest and sub-editor of «The Month», a magazine published by the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order) in London. The editor was Fr. Philip George Caraman, another correspondent of Merton's.
Patricia Hardesty was writing a piece for the «Saturday Evening Post» on Henry Miller. She writes from Mill Valley, California.
Vincent Harding and his wife Rosemarie Freeney Harding were leaders in the Southern Freedom Movement during the Civil Rights struggle of the 1950's and 1960's. He has written a number of books, including «Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero», and served as a senior academic consultant to the highly-acclaimed Eyes on the Prize series on PBS. In 1997, he and Rosemarie Freeney Harding founded the Veterans of Hope project, which gathers the wisdom of elder pioneers in civil rights and social justice for future generations. Harding is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology in Denver.
Fr. Franciscus Hardjawijata was Novice Master at the Trappist monastery at Rawaseneng, Indonesia.
Sr. Katherine T. Hargrove, also known as Mother Hargrove, was a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and was editor of some books on Jewish-Christian relations. She writes from Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Purchase, New York.
Fr. Bernard Haring writes from the Lateran Pontifical University in Rome.
Arthur Harris was the son of John Harris (see "Harris, John" file), who notes that Arthur was born in 1954 and had asked Merton for stamps in 1967. Merton sends him a couple letters and shipments of stamps from letters he had received from around the world. John Harris later notes in correspondence about his letters after Merton's death that Arthur had become a professional philatelist.
Born in London, John Harris was best known as an Francophile author and later for his broadcast about life in France for the BBC. He began his working life as schoolteacher in language, first in Devonshire and later in Cornwall. He spent much time in France and wrote about French culture. (Source: "John P. Harris." Times Online Obituary: The Times [of London]. 26 Nov. 2003. Accessed 5 Oct. 2010. Bellarmine University Library. ‹http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1026218.ece›.))
Br. Patrick Hart was Merton's last secretary. In his earlier years at the monastery, he went by the religious name Br. Simon. He continued to foster Merton's legacy through the interviews he has conducted and through editing many of the collections of Merton's essays, journals, and correspondence.
Sibyl Harton was an Anglican and an author writing from England. She had visited Gethsemani and met Merton in October of 1964.
Lucile Hasley was a convert to Catholicism who published around twelve titles through Sheed and Ward, which were quite autobiographical in nature and featured themes concerning her conversion and about the Catholic Church. She wrote to Merton from South Bend, Indiana.
Alfred Hassler was Executive Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and writes from Nyack, New York.
Dorothy Hassler was Director of Membership for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and writes from Nyack, New York.
Freida "Nanny" Hauck was the mother of Elsie Hauck Holahan (later Jenkins). Elsie had moved in to the home of Merton's maternal grandparents, Samuel and "Mattie" Baldwin Jenkins, to take care of Tom and his younger brother John Paul Merton after the death of their mother Ruth Jenkins in 1921. (Elsie later married Merton's uncle, Harold Jenkins). Freida Hauck lived in Great Neck, New York.
Walter S. Hauck was a friend and distantly related in-law to Thomas and John Paul Merton. Walter Hauck's sister, Elsie, married Harold Jenkins, Thomas and John Paul Merton's uncle, in 1938. In his letter to John Paul, he refers to himself as "Unc" Walt. Thomas Merton corresponded with Walter Hauck's daughter Nancy Hauck Boettcher.
Rosemary Haughton was a Catholic theologian and author. She was born in England, but lived in many places in Europe, and once in the United States, while young and now resides in the United States. She wrote books regarding Catholic culture, feminist spirituality, marriage and sexuality, and books for children.
Author of a dissertation or thesis about Thomas Merton or with reference to Merton.