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James Finn was editor of «Worldview» "a journal of religion and international affairs".

Jeremiah Stanton Finch was dean of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School at the time of correspondence and was trying to arrange a faculty retreat at Gethsemani.

Art Fillmore, from St. Louis, Missouri, writes to Merton on stationery of the Hotel Tequendama in Bogotá, Colombia.

Armando Rezende Filho writes from Brazil.

Mother General of Figlie Della Chiesa writes from Rome.

George L. Fields was in medical school at the University of Kentucky in 1968 while writing to Merton.

Fr. James Justin Field was a Dominican and Bishop of St. Georges-in-Grenada.

Fran Fevrier took over the role as poetry editor for «The Florida Quarterly» from Martin Lee Curry who became general editor. This literary magazine began at University of Florida in Gainesville in 1967 and was the first of its kind at the university. Curry convinced Merton to send in a poem for the first issue. Merton also contributed the poem "Welcome" for the second issue, which was published in November of 1967.

Fr. Anastasius Fettig was Prior at Gethsemani at the time of this correspondence. He was reacting to the negative response among some about Merton's pamphlet he distributed before the 1968 abbatial election, "My Campaign Platform for Non-Abbot and Permanent Keeper of Present Doghouse".

Sidney Feshbach writes from the Department of English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

W. H. Ferry, also known as Ping Ferry, was vice-president of the Center for Democratic Institutions at Santa Barbara from 1954-1969. In 1961, Merton first wrote to W. H. Ferry, having been introduced to pamphlets produced by the Center for Democratic Institutions by James Laughlin. This began a dialog between the two that continued through the rest of Merton's life. Ferry first came to visit Gethsemani in November of 1964 for a meeting with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and others on peace that was attended by Daniel and Philip Berrigan, A. J. Muste, John Howard Yoder, among others. Ferry drove Merton along the northern California coast as Merton scoped out areas for a possible new hermitage. He was also present to see Merton off when his flight left for Asia. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 201.)

Thomas Hornsby Ferril was an acclaimed poet of the Rocky Mountains, born and living the rest of his years in Denver, Colorado.

Joseph Ferraro was assistant professor of philosophy at University of the Americas in Mexico at the time of writing to Merton. He had written a dissertation on the theological virtues of St. John of the Cross and the relation to St. Thomas Aquinas, «Las virtudes teologales en la doctrina de San Juan de la Cruz».

Lawrence Ferlinghetti was editor and publisher of City Lights Books in San Francisco that was one of the most prominent publications of the beat movement in San Francisco. He wrote poetry and plays as well as running a bookstore, City Lights, the same name as the publishing house. Merton and Ferlinghetti met in person in San Francisco on May 16, 1968. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 267.)

R. Fentener van Vlissingen was a psychiatrist writing from Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Sr. Felicitas was an American Benedictine nun who had asked Merton about racial integration for monasteries (source: «The School of Charity», p. 218).

Richard Felciano was Ford Foundation composer-in-residence for the Detroit Public Schools at the time of correspondence. He wanted to use Merton's poem, "The Captives - A Psalm" for a setting for chorus and orchestra. He later became professor of music at the University of California at Berkeley.

Bishop John Michael Fearns was an auxiliary bishop who served the Archdiocese of New York from 1957 to 1972.

Marie Faugeron writes on behalf of the «Action Civique Non-Violent» from St-Didier-au-Mt-d'Or in France.

Edward Farrell was coordinator of a workshop arranged by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association (SPUR).

Charles P. Farnsley served as Louisville mayor from 1948-1953. Merton asks his help in obtaining books about American democracy in preparation to obtain U.S. citizenship.

Fr. Hugh Farmer was a Benedictine monk of Quarr Abbey on the northern coast of the Isle of Wight.

Mario Falsina was a student at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, and was living in Bergamo. He was writing a thesis on Merton and asks him six questions to which Merton replies.

Francis Fabinski was a 10 year old boy who sends a bookmark with a quote from Duns Scotus and asks for a prayer for his confirmation and for his brother who is considering the priesthood.

Br. Fabian was a Trappist monk of Holy Spirit Abbey in Huntsville, Utah, one of the daughter houses of Gethsemani Abbey.

Sr. Peter Eymard writes from St. John's Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota.

Eugene Exman was an editor for Harper and Brothers (by 1962, Harper and Row). He writes from New York.

Br. George Every, a lay brother of the Society of the Sacred Mission, writes first while visiting Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut, and later from the Anglican College at Kelham, England, where he taught. He covered monastic topics for Dorothy Emmet's journal «Theoria to Theory», to which Merton was a contributor.

Merton writes to Fr. J. Whitney Evans in Duluth, Minnesota.

Fr. Illtud Evans was a Dominican priest and popular retreat master from Cambridge, England. He did editorial work for «Blackfriars» (after 1964, «New Blackfriars»), a publication of the English Dominicans. Many of Evans' letters speak of his travels for the retreats he was giving, including a trip to the Holy Land. In 1966, he moved to St. Albert's College in Oakland, California. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 196.)

Hermene Evans writes from Chicago on behalf of the Peace Study Union.

Willy Eurlings is chairperson of the Mertonvrienden, the Dutch-speaking Merton Society from Flanders and the Netherlands.

Sr. Eulogia was a Franciscan at St. Francis Convent in Joliet, Illinois.

James M. Ethridge was editor of «Contemporary Authors», which compiles reference volumes on biographical information about authors.

Yara Esteves writes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Ricardo Espinoza writes from Lima, Peru.

Clayton Eshleman is a poet now living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He was born in Indianapolis in 1935. In college he became interested in world poetry, and learned Spanish in order to read and translate the works of Cesar Vallejo and Pablo Neruda and to . He first wrote to Merton while in Kyoto where he was teaching English, responding to a letter of Merton's printed in «El Corno Emplumado». Later, he met Merton after having returned to Indiana as a professor at University of Indiana. He came for a visit with his wife on April 23, 1965. Eshleman was not very happy in Indiana and moved to Peru later in 1965. Some unfortunate events happened in Peru and he would only stay there a year; however, he became very socially involved after having witness the slums of Lima. He then moved to New York and founded the literary magazine «Caterpillar» in 1967. (Source: "A Brief Biography and Complete CV". Clayton Eshleman website. Accessed 2004/12/06. ‹http://www.claytoneshleman.com/bio.html›.)

Morris L. Ernst was of the well-known New York law firm of Greenbaum, Wolff and Ernst. He was putting together a book of reminiscences of favorite teachers by well-known figures.

Fr. Ermin writes from Germany.

Franz Erlach was a medical doctor who emigrated from Austria in 1938 with his wife, Dr. Helen P. Erlach, and two children. At the time of this letter, they had retired to Croton-on-Hudson, New York.

Jack Ericson was special collections curator at the University of Syracuse in New York. He convinced Merton to send some of his papers to their collection of distinguished writers.

Knut Erichson writes from Bonn am Rein on behalf of the publisher Bonner Buchgemeinde. Having been impressed with Merton's drawings that were published in Clare Booth Luce's «Saints for Now» of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and of St. John of the Cross, Erichson asks Merton to send a drawing of St. Catherine of Siena for an edition of Sigrid Undset's book on the saint, «Katharina Benincasa». The book was published by Verlag Bonner Buchgemeinde in 1954 with Merton's drawing of St. Catherine on the front cover of the dust jacket.

Ted Enslin writes from the isolated area of Temple, Maine. He is a poet and hermit who has published a number of books of poems and whose work has appeared in literary magazines. Despite this, his lifestyle has allowed him to remain out of the spotlight. Merton published a poem of his in the third volume of «Monks Pond».

"Father English was a native New Yorker who spent his younger years as a supporter and collaborator in the Catholic Worker Movement in New York with Dorothy Day. [In 1952,] he came to Georgia to serve the Lord and the Church as a Trappist monk in Conyers." (Source: Sanches, Joseph. "The Death Of A Monk" 21 Dec 1972. «The Georgia Bulletin Online Edition: The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta». Accessed 3 Dec 2004. ‹http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/1972/12/21/c/›.)

Omer Englebert, originally from Belgium, was the author of biographies of Francis of Assisi, Damien of Molokai, Junípero Serra and others. He writes to Merton from Mexico.

Elsa Engländer was author of the 1958 book, «In sehr grosser Freude». She writes from Linz, Austria.

Joseph Engelberg is professor emeritus of the School of Medicine at University of Kentucky in Lexington. While writing to Merton, he was an associate professor wrote on behalf of the Committee on Peace Education and Research.

Rupert Enderle was owner of the Enderle Bookstore, a Herder Agency, that dealt in publications and the import and export of books. He writes from Tokyo.

Dr. Julio Endara was President of Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana in Quito, Ecuador. Merton inquires about commissioning Jaime Andrade for a sculpture of the Virgin Mary.

Dorothy Emmet was the author of a number of books on philosophy and helped found the department of philosophy at the University of Manchester, where she served as head of the department. After retiring from her professorship, she settled in Cambridge in 1966. There she became the first editor of the journal «Theoria to Theory», to which Merton was a contributor. She was interested in philosophy's application to political and social issues and "taught Plato to unemployed Welsh miners" (source: «Obituary: Dorothy Emmet». 25 September 2000. «The Guardian». Accessed 2 December 2004. ‹http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,373005,00.html›).

In Monsignor John Tracy Ellis' biographical note in «The Hidden Ground of Love», William H. Shannon states that "Ellis may well be called the dean of American Catholic historians (The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 174). He was professor at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., while in correspondence with Merton.

Elisabeth G. Ellis was writing on behalf of Naomi Burton Stone with some editorial questions about «Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander».

Sr. Mary Elizabeth of the Trinity was sub-prioress and novice mistress of the Monastery of Discalced Carmelites in Boston, Massachusetts.

John Egerton was writing on behalf of the «Southern Education Report».

Sr. Mary Egan (known in Merton's correspondence as Sr. Lidwina) was of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Loretto Convent in Guelph, Ontario.

Eileen Egan was a primary figure in the Catholic peace movement. She was a cofounder of the organization American PAX, which became Pax Christi-USA, a branch of the international movement. She worked with and wrote books about Dorothy Day and Mother Theresa of Calcutta. With Dorothy Day, Gordon Zahn, Jim Douglass and Richard Carbrey, she advocated for the strong language against war and in support of conscientious objection in teaching of the Second Vatican Council.

The Rev. George Edwards was a professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1965. He had been a consciencious objector during the Second World War, and, together with Jean Edwards, became leaders in the Louisville peace and justice community, organizing for the local chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Russell Edson is a poet from Connecticut who appeared in Merton's second edition of «Monks Pond».

Sr. Karen Edmund was a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet from Binghamton, New York.

Fr. Edmond was a Trappist monk from the Abbey of Achel in Belgium.

Suzanne Edgell was a teacher with the United States Department of Defense and stationed in the Philippines.

Diana Eck was a student of Amiya Chakravarty at Smith College and writes to express her praise for Merton's book «Gandhi on Non-Violence». Dr. Eck has gone on to earn degrees from the University of London and Harvard and to write books about the religious traditions of India, religious pluralism and Christianity's encounter with other religions.

Bill Dwyer was an attorney and one of the original members considered for the Merton Legacy Trust.

The Most Reverend Robert J. Dwyer was Bishop of Reno, Nevada, at the time of correspondence with Merton. He later became the Archbishop of Portland, Oregon.

Mother Benedict Duss was a Benedictine Abbess of Regina Laudis monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut.

Fr. Dureau, a Dominican priest, writes in 1959 from Stockholm on the letterhead of the publication «Dominikanerna». His 1966 letter is from Paris.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Irene Dunne rose to prominence as a film actress and was known as the "First Lady of Hollywood". She played starring roles alongside Carey Grant among others and was nominated for five Academy Awards, notably «Cimmarron», «The Awful Truth», and «I Remember Mama». She was known as a reserved person who did not like to give interviews. She devoted her later life to charity and served as a special delegate to the United Nations. In 1965, Bellarmine College awarded Dunne with the colleges highest honor, the Bellarmine Medal. Dunne was a Catholic, and Monsignor Horrigan, Bellarmine president, gave her some signed books by Merton. She wrote to him telling how she appreciated them. Merton responded, saying "I in my turn want to thank you for the joy I can remember, in the days when I used to go to the movies, when I used to listen to your lovely voice and enjoy your pictures."

Fr. George Dunne was a Jesuit priest at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Dom Frederic Dunne was abbot of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Merton's early years at the monastery.

Peter Dunne was executive director of The Temple of Understanding in Washington, D.C. The organization was founded to promote interreligious dialog and to build a center in Washington to facilitate interfaith education (later, programming of educational programs became the sole emphasis and the idea of building a center was abandoned). Merton was invited to speak at the first international conference of the organization in Calcutta and was able to make this a part of his journey to Asia.

Fr. Heinrich Dumoulin was a Jesuit priest, professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and a scholar of the history of Zen Buddhism. In the mid-seventies, he was the founder and first director of the Nanzen Institute for Religion and Culture.

Fr. Charles Dumont was a monk of the Trappist Abbey of Scourmont near Chimay, Belgium. He was editor of «Collectanea Cisterciensia» and helped establish the English counterpart called «Cistercian Studies». (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 66.)

Fr. James Dugan was a Jesuit priest from Weston College in Massachusetts.

Joseph Duffy was publishing director for P. J. Kenedy and Sons publishers in New York.

Professor Eleanor Duckett writes from Northampton, Massachusetts.

Fr. William H. DuBay was author of the book, «The Human Church». DuBay found himself in fierce disagreement with Cardinal McIntyre over participation in civil rights protests. DuBay advocated Church involvement in the crusade for equal rights by marches and protests, but the Cardinal thought it was not right to be involved in this kind of public display. In 1966, he published his book, which brought to question many of the current hierarchical structures of the Church and advocated priest forming unions. In addition, it addressed the secular versus the Christian ethic. Not having approved the book through the official archdiocesan channels, he was soon forbidden to perform his priestly functions. Merton agreed with DuBay on many of his points, but did not think priests organizing a union would be as effective as informal networks to accomplish the same goals.

Sr. Diane Du Christ was from the Dominican monastery at Dax in southwestern France.

Leon Driskell was in the Department of English faculty at University of Louisville.

Camille Drevet writes from Paris. She was part of Les Amis de Gandhi (Friends of Gandhi), a group founded by Louis Massignon. She was author of the book Par les routes humaines. (Source: «Witness to Freedom», p. 97.)

Teresa Ann Doyle was a Benedictine sister and editor of the «American Benedictine Review», published in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Paul A. Doyle was teaching in the Department of English at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York. He and other colleagues were putting together an «Evelyn Waugh Newsletter».

Dom Pierre Doyère was a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Saint-Paul de Wisques in France.

Jim Douglass is known for his theological writing and his activism in the area of non-violent resistance to war and especially nuclear arms. He was a friend of Daniel Berrigan and Dorothy Day. He served as a theological advisor on conscientious objection and nuclear war at the Second Vatican Council. He first met Merton while a professor at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky.