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.
Michael Hodder writes from Newark, New Jersey. He hitchhiked to Gethsemani to visit Merton, but had not cleared it before coming, so he was not allowed to visit him. Hodder was claiming conscientious objector (C.O.) status but was drafted for Vietnam. Merton wrote a letter on his behalf to his draft board. He seems to have been in contact with Tom Cornell from the Catholic Peace Fellowship. He was a member of Students for a Democratic Society (S.D.S.) in Newark.
Paula Hocks was later known as a photographer and book artist. At the time of correspondence with Merton, she had spent time interacting with the Trappist nuns at Redwoods Monastery and was on faculty at University of California at San Diego in La Jolla. Merton was encouraging her interest in sacred art. Before she had established herself as an artist, she had offered to do typing for Merton. She became Editor of a small poetry magazine at UCSD while teaching in the Philosophy Department. She would later move to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico.