Norman Neuman was a Lutheran minister writing from Lutheran Social Services in Brooklyn, New York. He had skills in drawing and painting and asked how to use these artistic gifts to serve God and how to overcome the "problem of communicating to «modern man»."
Mother Carole Neri was a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albany, New York. At the time of writing to Merton, she was not yet the superior (still Sr. Carole) and was Mistress of Novices.
J. Robert Nelson was dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School from 1957-1960. He was later dean at Boston University School of Theology from 1965-1985.
Dorothy Neff writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia, in response to «The Seven Storey Mountain» and «The Sign of Jonas».
Allen R. Neff was an English professor at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. Claire Livingston asked him to send Merton some poems for consideration in «Monks Pond». Merton included his work in volume three of «Monks Pond».
Susan Neer was a high school student from Saint Ann, Missouri. Her father tells her that statements about racism in the South by John Howard Griffin are exaggerated, and she asks Merton's opinion.
Brendan Nagle was from Malibu, California.
Virginia Naeve is the author of a proposal referencing Thomas Merton. There is no correspondence in this file; however, it quotes a message from Abbot James Fox who writes on behalf of Thomas Merton.
Fr. Christopher Mwoleka became Bishop of Rulenge in Tanzania in 1969. When he first wrote to Merton in 1967, he explains that he had first read Merton in 1952, and that «Seeds of Contemplation» was an inspiration for him to leave his job as an office clerk and enter seminary. He was ordained in 1962 and would later read a number of Merton's books. Shortly after beginning their correspondence, Mwoleka began teaching at St. Charles Lwanga's Katoke Seminary in Biharamulo.
André Muzac writes on behalf of La Haute-Auvergne Societe des Lettres, Sciences et Art from Aurillac, France.
A. J. Muste was born in Holland, moved with his family to the United States at six, and later attended Union Theological Seminary and became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. He was a pacifist and life-long advocate for peace and civil rights, working with such groups at the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the War Resisters League. Even in his later years, he continued his opposition to war in resisting United States involvement in Vietnam.
Anne Brooks Murray writes on behalf of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy publishers in New York.
Michael Murphy writes from the Esalen Institute, located in San Francisco and Big Sur, California.
Kay Murphy was the manager of the Literary Rights Division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
Letters from Mumford are addressed from Amenia, New York, but Merton mentions a letter of his written from London. Mumford was a well known architectural critic, urban planner, and commentator of the effects of modern technology on human development. Merton mentions reading some of Mumford's articles and his books «The Myth of the Machine» and «Technics and Civilization».
Joseph Mulloy and his wife, Karen, corresponded with Merton for a number of years. In 1968, it was arranged through a mutual friend for Joseph to meet Merton at Gethsemani. Merton supported Mulloy in seeking Conscientious Objector status for the Vietnam War and wrote a letter to Local Board 47 in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite this, Mulloy was sent to prison. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 366.)
Fr. Thomas A. Mullaney was a Dominican priest from Washington, D.C. and writes in response to «Seeds of Contemplation».
Paul V. Moynihan was Chief Reference Librarian of Bapst Library at Boston College in Massachusetts.
Fr. Michael Moylan was a Discalced Carmelite of Mount Carmel in Oxford, England.
Elizabeth Mowat writes from the Translation Department of the publishing firm Curtis Brown in regards to foreign rights to Merton's books overseas and in translation. She writes from New York.
Merton writes to the Library Club of Mount St. Paul College in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Rev. C. F. D. Moule was an Anglican priest and professor at Clare College at Cambridge University in England. Merton submits a piece for the «Clare Association Annual».
Fr. Youakim Moubarac was a professor of Arabic classics at the Institut Catholique de Paris in France.
Dom John Morson was a Trappist monk of Mount St. Bernard's Abbey in Leicester, England. He served as Trappist Definitor for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He was a regular contributor to «Cistercian Studies». He writes from Rome. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 330.)
John Morrissey writes on behalf of «The Catholic News», the Catholic newspaper of New York.
James Morrissey was an editor and staff writer for the «Louisville Courier-Journal» in Kentucky.
Thomas Morrill was a poet writing from Tallahassee, Florida.
Charles Moritz was the longest serving editor of «Current Biography», serving from 1958-1992.
Hiromu Morishita was president of the Senior High School Teachers' Society and the Hiroshima Peace Education Institute in Japan. He was a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and led a group of survivors, known as the Hibakusha, on a world tour for peace. On May 16, 1964, the group visited Merton and stayed at Gethsemani. Merton read Morishita his poem, "Paper Cranes" (the paper crane is a Japanese symbol of peace). (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 458-459.)
Dr. Dante J. Morgana, a medical doctor and Benedictine Oblate (Frater Augustinus Morgana), writes from Buffalo, New York. He seems to have spent some time (1961?) as a postulant at Gethsemani Abbey.
Frederick Morgan was editor-in-chief of «The Hudson Review» and writes from New York.
María Angustias Moreno Olmedo writes from Granada, Spain. She has published books on the genealogy and heraldry of Granada and a catalog of the archives of the Alhambra.
Dr. José L. Morales from St. John’s University, in New York was a professor of mystical theology and literature.
Geoffrey Moorhouse was a journalist on the editorial staff of «The Guardian» in London, England.
Dom Thomas Verner Moore was the founder of a Carthusian charterhouse, the first in the Americas, at Sky Farm (later named the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration) in southern Vermont. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1877. He joined the Paulists in 1896. In 1903, he was granted the first doctorate in psychology in the District of Columbia from Catholic University of America. He was sent to study under one of the pioneers of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, in Germany, but returned to the United States due to health problems. During the First World War, he changed orders from the Paulists to the English Benedictines at Downside Abbey. He went on to study medicine and earned an M.D. from John Hopkins in 1915. He then opened a children's clinic and taught clinical medical classes at Catholic University, later heading the department. After he retired in 1947, at the age of 70, he became a Carthusian at the Cartuja de Miraflores, in Burgos, Spain. In 1950, he returned to the United States under orders to begin the Sky Farm foundation. (Sources: ["Carthusian Solitude." Time magazine (11 Dec. 1950). Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 5 May 2008. «http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814099-2,00.html»]; and [Stafford, John W. "Thomas Verner Moore: 1877-1969." American Journal of Psychology: Vol. 83, No. 2 (June, 1970), pp. 286-288. JSTOR. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 5 May 2008. ‹http://www.jstor.org/stable/1421336›].)
Lee Moore worked in the subsidiary rights department of Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishers in New York.
Monsignor J. P. Moore writes from the Catholic Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He was the priest who had instructed and baptized Merton at Corpus Christi Church in New York. He visited Gethsemani in November of 1964. Merton notes in his journals that, at the time, Moore had been serving as chaplain at the military academy at West Point for twenty-five years.
Dan Tyler Moore and Drew Pearson write on behalf of the International Platform Association from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Fr. Augustine Moore was a Trappist monk from Holy Spirit Abbey in Conyers, Georgia. At the time of this correspondence, he was the American Definitor in Rome. He later succeeded Robert McGann as abbot of Holy Spirit Abbey. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 56.)
Stephen Mooney was a poet and professor at the University of Tennessee, Martin. He was founder and editor of the «Tennessee Poetry Journal».
Roger Moody writes on behalf of the West Campaigners against Factory Farming / West of England Campaign against Factory Farming (WECAFF). He writes from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dale Moody was, at the time of writing to Merton, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Gwynedd Monroe was Associate Secretary of the Department of Christian Social Relations of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in New York.
Elsie Mitchell is a Buddhist scholar, originally from Boston, who has published books on Zen Buddhism and art. She was founder of the Ahimsa Foundation, which supports humane societies and organizations for the protection of wildlife; and she was co-founder of the Cambridge Buddhist Association. Dom Aelred Graham spent the summer of 1968 with Elsie and her husband John Mitchell. Elsie Mitchell writes from Cataumet, Massachusetts.
Sr. Miriam Benedict was a Benedictine sister of Regina Laudis Monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut. At the time of writing, she was Postulant Mistress.
Dorothy Mingolello writes from Fairfield, Connecticut. She asks Merton's assistance in writing a letter to the director of Boys Town, Msr. Nicholas H. Wegner.
Stephano Minelli writes on behalf of Edizioni Mocelliana in Brescia, Italy.
Dom Peter Minard was a French Benedictine monk and founder of the Holy Mother of God Monastery in Oxford, North Carolina, a contemplative Benedictine foundation that later was turned over to the Trappists.
Samra Hicks (later Mims) was, at the time of Merton's message to her, assistant to Sr. Anna Louise, Dean of Students of Catherine Spalding College in Louisville, Kentucky.
Czeslaw Milosz was a Polish poet who among his many accolades won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. Milosz was part of the Polish socialist resistance to the Nazis during World War II. After the war, he sought political asylum in France, opposing the repressive regime that came to power. His work, «The Captive Mind» was the first that caught Merton's attention and motivated him to write to Milosz. In 1960, Milosz accepted a professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, and lived in the United States for the rest of his life. Merton and Milosz first met at Gethsemani in September of 1964. Later, Merton would visit Milosz in California in October of 1968. Christine Bochen notes a number of diverse themes in their correspondence: "candid critiques of each other's work; suggestions for reading; and reflections on nature and history, religion and the Church, mass media and American society." (Source: «The Courage for Truth», pp. 53-54.)
Jim Milord wrote for the «Catholic Worker» and praised Merton for his review of the «Shoshoneans» in the June 1967 issue. He writes from Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada. Later, after transferring to a new teaching post in 1968, he writes from Vegreville, Alberta.
John Mills was a painter, print-maker, and essayist of art history. He knew Merton's friend in publishing, James Laughlin, and sends Merton an autobiographical poem (not extant with letter).
William Robert Miller was Managing Editor of «Fellowship» of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and later took the same role at the «United Church Herald» of the United Church of Christ. It is in this capacity in 1962 in which he writes to Merton to commend him for an article in «Jubilee». By 1964, he writes to Merton as Associate Editor of the Religious Department at Holt, Rinehart and Winston in New York. Miller wrote a number of books about peacemaking, Christian nonviolence, and other related themes.
William J. Miller wrote a plan for the construction of a Cistercian monastery as an undergraduate thesis in architecture at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
Lawrence K. Miller was Editor of «The Berkshire Eagle» of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Miller's wife was involved in the restoration of the Shaker village of Hancock, Massachusetts. Lawrence Miller is interested in reprinting one of Merton's articles on the Shakers in his newspaper.
Henry Miller was a highly controversial author, and some of his works were censored in the United States until the 1960's. The authors respected each others works despite their vastly different lifestyles. However, Miller, like Merton, had spent years in New York and in France and was an artist as well as author. Merton expresses a desire to read Miller's «Tropics» novels, but doubts they would get past censors at the monastery.
Frank Miller was an editorial cartoonist for the «Des Moines Register and Tribune» in Iowa. Inspired by «The Seven Storey Mountain», he was taking instructions as a Catholic. From his recommendation, the editorial page at his newspaper ran quotes from «Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander» with his illustrations, originals of which he sends as thanks to Merton.
Donna Mae Miller was the Editor of «Quest», a scholarly publication that was sponsored by two associations of physical therapy on college campuses. Miller writes from the University of Arizona.
Sr. Mildred was a Benedictine sister of Regina Laudis monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut.
Claude Michel writes on behalf of the Action Civique Non-Violente in St. Didier au Mont d'Or, France.
Michael "of Melrose" writes from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Mother Michael of Christ the King was a nun of the Carmel of Our Lady of the Mountains in Reno, Nevada.
Richard Meyers would later become a significant figure in punk rock under the name Richard Hell.
Sandy Meyer was a student at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri at the time of writing. Following Merton's correspondence with Barbara Ann Braveman, another member of the staff of the student publication «Free Lance» (also "Freelance"), Meyer came to Gethsemani to interview Merton on March 30, 1968 with Susan Smith, and students named Sally and Mike (possibly Michael Castro?).
Catherine Meyer was an editor for «Harper's Magazine» and writes from New York.
Dr. R. Meulet was part of a faculty of medicine in radiology in Bordeaux, France.
Paul Cuthbert Metcalf was a novelist associated with the Black Mountain school of the 1950's. He was the great-grandson of Herbert Melville. Brought up in the northeast, he went to Harvard for college but dropped out. His first attempt at writing after this was a failure. According to Metcalf, "[a]round 1940 or so I spent a summer living and studying (and drinking) with the poet Conrad Aiken." He held a number of small jobs after this until in 1945, he contacted tuberculosis. In his recovery in the mountains of northern Georgia, he read voraciously. Soon after, he wrote his first published book, «Will West». He began his association with Black Mountain College with a connection he had gained earlier in life. Charles Olsen had visited Metcalf's family while doing Melville research when Metcalf was 14. Through Olsen, Metcalf met poet Jonathan Williams of the Jargon Society, who became Metcalf's first publisher. It was through Williams that Metcalf was put in touch with Merton about writing for «Monks Pond». Another of Merton's friends, Guy Davenport, became a fan of Metcalf's work. At the time of writing to Merton, Metcalf was selling real estate in Chester, Massachusetts. He express a desire to Merton to get out of this and pursue writing full time. He was able to do this in the late sixties after receiving the inheritance from the death of his parents. By the end of his life, he had published over 20 books. Merton uses a section of his book «Patagoni» about Pre-Columbian South America. (Source: "Metcalf, Paul" World Authors." 1999. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 16 Dec. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Vladimir Mertsalov was Director of the Institut zur Erforschung der UdSSRe.V. in Munich, Germany.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, and writings on peace, justice, and ecumenism.
Owen Merton was Thomas Merton's father. He was born in New Zealand, studied art in Paris, and traveled in Europe, Bermuda, the United States, and northern Africa to make a living as a landscape painter.
John Paul Merton was Thomas Merton's younger, and only, sibling. The boys spent much time apart, Thomas traveling with his father Owen, the painter, in France and England, where he was schooled. John Paul lived with his maternal grandparents, the Jenkins, and went to schools in New York and later military academy, graduating in the last class in 1935 from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania's academy. He attended Cornell and was there first interested in Catholicism, taking up flying with the Catholic chaplain, Fr. Donald Cleary. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1941, intending to get involved in the Second World War and the United States was not yet committed. He went by the nickname "Mert". One of the correspondents in these letters, Thomas O'Brien, gave his flight training. John Paul visited Thomas Merton at Gethsemani during a leave in July of 1942. He expressed interest in becoming baptized Catholic and received expedited instructions from Thomas and Dom James Fox because he had only a week's leave. He was baptized July 26, 1942. In August 1942, John Paul was sent into action in England. While on leave in England, he met Margaret May Evans and married her in February of 1943. On April 16, 1943, he embarked in a Wellington bomber over the English Channel. For unknown reasons, the plane lost altitude and crashed. John Paul's back was broken, but he was taken aboard a dinghy with some survivors. He died the 17th, which was the Saturday of Passion Week. The others were rescued Holy Thursday, and Thomas Merton learned of his brother's death on Easter Tuesday. Thomas Merton responded with the poem, "For My Brother Reported Missing in Action, 1943", which concludes the «The Seven Storey Mountain». (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, pp. 294-295.)
John Merton was Thomas Merton's cousin, the son of John Llewellyn Charles Merton (Uncle Lyn). At the time of writing, he was an Anglican priest and Vicar of the Parochial District of New Brighton in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Source: «The Road to Joy», pp. 86.)
