Boston College collection of Thomas Merton
Dates
- Creation: 1940-1986
Scope and Contents
Collection documenting the life and work of Thomas Merton through articles, artwork, correspondence, essays, poems, prefaces, reviews, and other writings by Merton, as well as correspondence and writings about Merton pertaining to exhibitions and memorials.
Merton’s writings include book reviews, essays, notes, monographs, poetry, prefaces, sermons, and translations, and are found in the collection as manuscripts, typescripts, mimeographs, and publisher’s proofs, many hand-annotated. The typescripts, including mimeographed works of limited distribution, form the bulk of the collection; a highlight is an original typescript of The Seven Storey Mountain.
Correspondence is Merton's direct exchanges with Boston College Librarians Terrence Connolly, SJ and Brendan Connolly, SJ and others, as well as his “Circular Letters,” which were sent by Merton when he could not maintain personal correspondences.
The graphic works in the collection are Merton’s original calligraphic drawings, with documentation surrounding exhibition of these works, and photographs of Merton.
Creator
- Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968 (Person)
- Connolly, Brendan C. (Brendan Cyril), 1913-1974 (Person)
- Connolly, Terence L. (Terence Leo), 1888-1961 (Person)
- McNiff, Mary Stack (Person)
Restrictions on Access
Collection is open for research.
Restrictions on use
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Biographical Note: Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton was born on January 31, 1915 in Prades, France to Owen Merton (an artist from New Zealand) and Ruth Jenkins Merton (an artist from the United States), and grew up in New York, Bermuda, France, and England. Merton studied both in Europe and America, and he received a BA and an MA in journalism from Columbia University in 1938 and 1939.
In 1938, Merton converted to Catholicism. He taught for two years at St. Bonaventure College in New York before entering the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, a community of monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists), in 1941. He made his simple vows in 1944, and solemn vows in 1947. He was ordained a priest in 1949 and took the name Father M. Louis. At Gethsemani, Merton served as Master of Scholastics (1951-1955) and Master of Novices (1955-1965), before retreating to a hermitage on the grounds of the abbey in 1965. Merton became a prominent author of both poetry and prose, initially gaining international renown for his 1948 autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. While maintaining his strict devotional life, he prolifically wrote books and articles on a wide variety of subjects, such as Catholic spirituality, civil rights, literary criticism, monastic renewal, pacifism, and Zen Buddhism.
Merton died suddenly on December 10, 1968 while attending the first Pan-Asian Monastic Conference in Thailand.
Sources:
Shenker, Israel. "Thomas Merton is dead at 53; monk wrote of search for God." The New York Times, December 11, 1968.
"Thomas Merton’s Life and Work," The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. https://merton.org/chrono.aspx. Accessed 2024 March 27.
Extent
9 Linear Feet (16 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Intentionally assembled collection comprised of original manuscripts of books, essays, letters, and poems written by the Trappist monk, poet, and writer Thomas Merton.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged in five series: I. Artwork; II. Correspondence; III. Photographs; IV. Writings by Merton; and V. Works about Merton.
Series IV. Writings by Merton is further arranged in three subseries: A. Notes; B. Poetry; and C. Prose.
Provenance
Because the current accessioning system was not used until January 1986, it is not possible to know exactly the dates of acquisition of materials received before that time. This custodial history was gleened from correspondence.
In 1948, Boston College faculty member Francis W. Sweeney, SJ, acquired an original typescript of The Seven Storey Mountain. Between 1948-1968, University Librarians Terrence Connolly, SJ and Brendan Connolly, SJ acquired signed books, manuscripts, mimeographed works, publisher's proofs, and carbon-copied letters directly from Merton. Additional material came from Dorothy Wayman (1953) and Mary and Philip McNiff (1988).
Source
- Sweeney, Francis, 1916-2002 (Person)
- McNiff, Mary Stack (Person)
- Offprints and photocopies
- Title
- Boston College Collection of Thomas Merton
- Subtitle
- 1940-1986
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- George Fuir, S.J., Beth Raymond, and Edward Copenhagen, 2006; Elizabeth Peters, 2024
- Date
- 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2019: Letters removed in May 2013 for an exhibit but never returned were removed from description.
- 2024 March: Reprocessed, rehoused, and redescribed, including simplification of the series arrangement and the deaccessioning of photocopies, offprints, and clippings
Repository Details
Part of the John J. Burns Library Repository
John J. Burns Library
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill MA 02467 United States
617-552-4861
library.bc.edu/burns/contact