Suzanne Edgell was a teacher with the United States Department of Defense and stationed in the Philippines.
Sr. Karen Edmund was a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet from Binghamton, New York.
Sr. Mary Elizabeth of the Trinity was sub-prioress and novice mistress of the Monastery of Discalced Carmelites in Boston, Massachusetts.
Elisabeth G. Ellis was writing on behalf of Naomi Burton Stone with some editorial questions about «Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander».
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›).
Ricardo Espinoza writes from Lima, Peru.
Yara Esteves writes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
James M. Ethridge was editor of «Contemporary Authors», which compiles reference volumes on biographical information about authors.
Hermene Evans writes from Chicago on behalf of the Peace Study Union.
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.)
Eugene Exman was an editor for Harper and Brothers (by 1962, Harper and Row). He writes from New York.
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.
Fr. Hugh Farmer was a Benedictine monk of Quarr Abbey on the northern coast of the Isle of Wight.
Sr. Felicitas was an American Benedictine nun who had asked Merton about racial integration for monasteries (source: «The School of Charity», p. 218).
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.)
Ed Finnigan writes from Chicago, Illinois.
James T. Flanagan was an attorney with the law offices of Driscoll, Flanagan and Ramos from New Orleans, Louisiana.
David Ford was an editor at New Directions publishing in Norfolk, Connecticut.
John J. Ford succeeded William Dwyer as attorney for the Merton Legacy Trust, which drew up Merton's will and made agreements about the use of his artistic estate after his death.
Linda married James Forest in 1967 and briefly corresponded with Merton.
Br. Dunstan Foretich was a Trappist monk at Gethsemani. He seemed to have been serving as a typist for Merton until he left the monastery in 1966.
Sr. Franciscana was a Franciscan sister at St. Anthony Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.
Jerome D. Frank was a psychiatrist at Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic in Baltimore, Maryland.
Claude Fredericks was a typesetter and printer of fine books who founded Banyan Press in the late 1940s.
Roberto Friol is a Cuban poet who sent some of his work to Merton.
Jim Frost was a sophomore in high school in Waterloo, Iowa.
Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni-Biondi was Prefect of the Promulgation of the Faith. He writes from Castel Gandolfo and Vatican City.
Gary Gagner, a former novice at Gethsemani, was applying for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War and was being assisted by Jim Forest and the Catholic Peace Fellowship. Merton wrote a letter on Gagner's behalf (in the "Forest, Jim" file). Gagner was stationed at Fr. Dix in New Jersey.
Thomas Gallagher was an editor with Magi Books in Albany, New York.
Fr. Bernard Gaynon was a Trappist monk writing from Canada.
Fr. Agostino Gemelli was a Franciscan writing from Milan, Italy, to pass along thanks from Msgr. Dell'Acqua for Merton's contribution to a book in honor of Pope Pius XII's 80th birthday. Gemelli authored books on such subjects as Marxism, psychology and Franciscan spirituality.
Rabbi Everett Gendler was a Jewish religious leader involved in the anti-war movement and the Civil Rights movement who worked closely with Rabbi Abraham Heschel and Martin Luther King in the later. He was later described as "the father of Jewish environmentalism".
Sandra George writes as Librarian for the Bruce Publishing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Sr. Marie Germaine Du Sacre Coeur was a Dominican from Oullins, France.
Sr. Gertrude Anne was a Sister of the Holy Cross writing from St. Mary's Convent in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Aly Abdel Ghani writes from Alexandria, Egypt.
José Gómez-Sicre was of the Visual Arts Section of the Organization of American States.
Fr. Jim Gorman was a Sulpician priest at St. Thomas Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
James A. Gould was Chairman of the University of South Florida Department of Philosophy. He writes from Tampa.
Raphael (Ray) Gould visited Merton at Gethsemani in May of 1966 along with John Heidbrink and Thich Nhat Hanh. After that visit, Gould writes Merton on behalf of the International Committee of Conscience on Vietnam of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). In 1967, he is listed as Director of Development of the FOR. He writes from the FOR headquarters in Nyack, New York.
Denis Goulet was the Visiting Associate Professor in Government and Education at Indiana University in Bloomington at the time of correspondence with Merton. Since 1979, he has served as O'Neill Professor in Education for Justice in the Department of Economics at Notre Dame University and is Faculty Fellow for both the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
Julien Green lived in France for most of his life and was born in Paris in 1900 of American parents. Merton's «Raids on the Unspeakable» contains an essay on Green's 1961 novel «Chaque homme dans sa nuit», and Green disputes him on some of Merton's criticism.
Jonathan Greene was born in New York, but has spent most of his career living in Kentucky as a poet, author, publisher and free-lance designer. While corresponding with Merton, he was a designer for University of Kentucky Press in Lexington. He was the founder of Gnomon Press. He currently lives on a farm near Frankfort, Kentucky.
Fr. Réginald Grégoire was a Benedictine priest and writes from Rome.
David Grewe was a seminary student at Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis, Missouri.
Roberto Gri was an Italian student writing to Merton to ask his advice about how one should study.
Dan Griffin was Assistant Editor of «Ave Maria», a "national Catholic weekly... published by the Holy Cross Fathers." He writes from Notre Dame, Indiana.
Miguel Grinberg was a poet from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who has authored a number of collections of poetry. He took over the editorship of «Eco Contemporáneo» in 1961, a publication to which Merton later subscribed. He came to Gethsemani to meet Merton in March of 1964 while traveling across the United States.
Maria (Mary) Groman writes from Warsaw, Poland.
Sharon Grossman writes as President of the National Federation of Catholic College Students from Washington, D.C.
Fr. Jean Guénnou writes from the Missions Étrangères in Paris.
An Anglican and Oxford graduate, Etta Gullick first writes to Merton to read her edition of the «Rule of Perfection» by Benet of Canfield (1562-1610). She had hoped Merton would write a preface. Although this did not come to pass, they discussed Benet of Canfield over their long correspondence and also about other great spiritual writers, about whom Gullick lectured on at St. Stephen's House, a theological college at Oxford. She was also involved in dialogue with Orthodox Christians, founding an Anglican-Orthodox center and hostel and meeting Ecumenical Patriarch, Athenagoras, in 1962. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 340.)
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.
The Honorable Shinzo Hamai was Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan.
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.
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.
Dorothy Hassler was Director of Membership for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and writes from Nyack, 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.
Claude Haussoullier was a French instructor at University of Massachusetts in Amherst and had spent some time teaching in Vietnam. She writes to thank Merton for his letter to Thich Nhât Hanh.
Jim Havel writes from Lawrence, Kansas.
When first writing to Merton, Sven Heilo was a law student living in Lund, Sweden. He had been born in Illinois to Swedish-Lutheran parents in 1940 and moved with his family to Sweden seven years later. He converted to Catholicism in 1960. He was considering a religious vocation and writes about this and a trip to the United States in 1964. There are no extant letters from Heilo from this trip, but Merton makes some remarks about the culture and politics of America and the candidacy of Goldwater. In 1965, Heilo went to work for a customs port in Stockholm and later married.
Sr. Marie Helen was a Dominican sister of Corpus Christi Monastery in Bronx, New York.
Dom Walter Helmstetter was abbot of the Cistercian Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, New York from the late 1950's to the early 1960's. Later, he became a hermit and writes to Merton from Palestine, Texas.
Aveen Henry was writing on behalf of «The Tablet» from London.
In 1967, while writing this letter to Merton, Rembert Herbert was nearing graduation at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He is currently a faculty member in the Department of English at Hunter College High School in New York. He has published a number of books on Gregorian chant.
Fr. Vincentius Hermans was Procurator for the Cistercian Order and delegated by Abbot General Ignace Gillet to respond to Merton about some censorship issues.
Tove Hersing was a child psychologist and convert to Catholicism writing from Copenhagen, Denmark. She tried to arrange a Danish translation of «The New Man», which was not followed through.
Pat Hickman was Merton's girlfriend for a few months while he was a student at Columbia University in 1938. These letters were written during a week spend with Robert Lax in Olean, New York.
Harry Hill, Jr. was a bookseller from Los Angeles, California.
James Hinchey was a novice at Gethsemani from February of 1958 to March of 1959. It seems he had started at St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas, before entry at Gethsemani and returned there to complete his degree. He went on to study at Duquesne University and University of Wisconsin for graduate studies. He joined the Oratorians and was ordained a priest in 1976.
Fr. Denis Hines, a Trappist priest, writes first from a hermitage in Sedona, Arizona. He mentions previously being at St. Benedicts Abbey in Snowmass, Colorado. Later, his card to Merton is addressed from Christ in the Desert Monastery in New Mexico. His hermitage at Sedona was getting shut down and he was looking for a new site. Merton informs him that he will not be allowed to establish a hermitage at Gethsemani at that time.
Thelma Hinshaw writes to thank Merton for sending a signed copy of «New Seeds of Contemplation». She asks Merton to explain the use of the term "holy recollection", and Merton sends her his take on recollection. Hinshaw writes from Florence, Arizona.
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.
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).
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.
At the time of writing, John Hunt was Senior Editor of «The Saturday Evening Post».
Luis M. Iglesias Ortega was a Dominican priest and author writing from Villava in the north of Spain.
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.