Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1970 October 23 (Creation)
Extent
2 page(s); Xerox copy of a holograph (handwritten) signed letter.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Merton remembered Nancy Hauck Boettcher when he was young and she was a baby in Long Island. After the death of Merton's mother Ruth in 1921, Nancy's grandmother, Freida "Nanny" Hauck came to help Merton's grandparents take care of Thomas and John Paul Merton. Nancy's aunt Elsie married Merton's uncle Harold Jenkins. Harold and Elsie took care of Nanny Hauck at first. According to Nancy, they "threw her out of their house", and she came to live with Walter and Ruth Hauck, Nancy's parents. The difficult situation of her parents taking care of Nanny is the subject of the first letter. At this time, Nancy was married, had a couple of children, and was unable to assist her parents with the care of Nanny. (Source: «The Road to Joy», pp. 57 and 65.)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
First lines: "Enclosed are the letters I have from Tom Merton. Please Xerox them for me. I have pictures and"... Contents index: message accompanying original letters from Merton sent to Nancy, letters she inherited from Merton to Nanny, and letters from Walter Hauck to John Paul Merton / explanation of family connections with Merton.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
- English