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Individual Series View, Merton's Correspondence with:

Van Doren, Mark, 1894-1972


Series 1, Correspondence between Merton and Van Doren


Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1939-1973
Volume: 208 item(s); 316 pg(s)

Scope and Content

This is a file in the correspondence of Thomas Merton under the heading: "Van Doren, Mark".

Biography

Mark Van Doren won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1940 for his 1939 volume of collected poems and was a literary critic and professor. He had a profound effect on Merton as a professor of English at Columbia University in New York. Van Doren was at Co

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.

Related Information and Links

See also Cold War Letters #99 and other published letters from Merton to Van Doren in The Road to Joy, pp. 3-55;

Series List

Series NumberSeries NameTotal Records
1 Correspondence between Merton and Van Doren 151
2 Correspondence between Van Doren and Others 57

Container List

Series#DateFrom/ToFirst LinesPub ✓Notes
 y/m/dMerton Scan ✉ 
Series 1 #1.
«All Series«		 1939/03/24 HLS[x] from Merton Well here is this Joyceish thing. It is a dialogue between a master and pupil. What is not clear ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #2.
«All Series«		 1939/03/30 HLS[x] from Merton Surprised Mr ffin Daruian, and daylighted for your brief lettuce right in these stole of James' Joys ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #3.
«All Series«		 1939/04/04 HLS[x] from Merton I will be delighted to come to dinner Friday - (Good Friday is not really any stricter than other «detailed view»
Series 1 #4.
«All Series«		 1939/08/18 HLS[x] from Merton Thanks for your letter. No, I hadn't known about the mermaids with fishes' heads! ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #5.
«All Series«		 1939/10/24 TLS[x] from Merton I am sending you a masque and a poem. The masque has little or nothing to do with the pastoral: ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #6.
«All Series«		 1940/04/no? HNS[x] from Merton Here is a poem I wrote. Cobre is a place in the mountains of Cuba near Santiago and the Virgin ✓ [note is written on a typescript of Merton's poem, "Song for Our Lady of Cobre"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #7.
«All Series«		 1940/06/16 TLS[x] from Merton You see I am back here living in Lax's hut. I got back from Cuba a month or so ago. It was fine ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #8.
«All Series«		 1940/08/25 TLS[x] from Merton It turns out I had to give up my plans about the monastery: my mind was changed for me, not by me. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #9.
«All Series«		 1941/01/28 TLS[x] from Merton I am sending you a new poem which is different from any other porm [sic] I ever wrote in some ways, ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #10.
«All Series«		 1941/02/no? TLS[x] from Merton Thanks for the letter, I was happy you liked the poem. Some time ago I became a Franciscan Tertiary ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #11.
«All Series«		 1941/11/10 TLS[x] from Merton This is the carbon of a book I am trying to sell--that same agent is working on it. I thought you ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #12.
«All Series«		 1941/11/14 HLS[x] from Merton Thank you for the letter, and I am very happy you liked the Journal, and want to send it to Sloane. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #13.
«All Series«		 1941/11/28 TLS[x] from Merton Thanks very much for sending Sloane's opinion on the Journal. I was rather pleased that ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #14.
«All Series«		 1941/12/09 TLS[x] from Merton Many thanks for the letter, which I am in too much of a hurry to answer now. I am sending these not ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #15.
«All Series«		 1941/12/13 HLS[x] from Merton Letter to My Friends [-] Explaining that I am entering the Trappists, in Kentucky. [dated "St Lucy's Day 1941" - circular letter to friend in poetic form explaining his entry into the Trappists at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky - contains a separate note for Van Doren at the end of the letter in which he transfers rights to Van Doren for his manuscript of Journal of My Escape from the Nazis] «detailed view»
Series 1 #16.
«All Series«		 1942/04/14 HLS[x] from Merton We are allowed to write letters very seldom, but I got special permission to send you some ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #17.
«All Series«		 1942/05/15 HLS to Merton I have sent your poems and Journal to Bob, who is happier at Friendship House than I have «detailed view»
Series 1 #18.
«All Series«		 1943/05/12 HLS[x] from Merton Let these poems serve for news of my religious life. My only activity is to remain motionless ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #19.
«All Series«		 1944/01/15 TLS[x] to Merton I have sent you by express the following manuscripts by Thomas Merton: Two bound volumes of Journals [filed at St. Bonaventure with a proposed anthology of poetry that Merton suggests to Van Doren (by various poets, not Merton)] «detailed view»
Series 1 #20.
«All Series«		 1944/02/22 HLS[x] from Merton Tomorrow it will be Lent and I won't be able to write my letters as I am writing this in haste now. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #21.
«All Series«		 1944/04/16 HLS[x] from Merton Day by day in this monastery I realize more and more how far I have fasted to show gratitude to all ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #22.
«All Series«		 1944/12/26 TLS[x] from Merton Since we cannot write during Advent this is my first chance to thank you for the "30 Poems". ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #23.
«All Series«		 1945/11/07 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton I was waiting til everything got settled with Laughlin before sending these back. Now they are no ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #24.
«All Series«		 1945/11/07 (#02) other[x] from Merton *=not published. other marks don't count [-] not published * - AFTERNOON [-] ARIADNE [a list of Merton's poems with marks designating whether each had been published] «detailed view»
Series 1 #25.
«All Series«		 1945/11/07 (#03) other[x] from Merton Manuscripts of poems removed from letter dated 7 Nov. 1945: The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani «detailed view»
Series 1 #26.
«All Series«		 1946/06/17 TLS[x] from Merton How are you? Here's a bunch of things. I guess the paper shortage is holding up the new book «detailed view»
Series 1 #27.
«All Series«		 1946/07/07 HLS to Merton ho, I'm still here, and for once all my family are with me. They send their love with mine. «detailed view»
Series 1 #28.
«All Series«		 1946/09/19 TLS[x] from Merton Maybe by now the ms of the Journal of Escape from the Nazis has got back to you. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #29.
«All Series«		 1947/11/05 (#01) HLS[x] from Merton For a long time I have meant to write and haven't had the chance. I don't ever know if I thanked ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #30.
«All Series«		 1947/11/05 (#02) other[x] from Merton POEM IN THE RAIN AND THE SUN. [-] Watching the world from my peeled doorlight [-] Without my rain [poem by Merton] «detailed view»
Series 1 #31.
«All Series«		 1947/11/22 HLS to Merton Thank you for a good letter and a good poem. The poem is one of your richest and best, but since «detailed view»
Series 1 #32.
«All Series«		 1948/03/14 HLS to Merton Your new book, of which Laughlin sent me, generously, three copies, has been read again and again, «detailed view»
Series 1 #33.
«All Series«		 1948/03/30 (#01) HLS[x] from Merton Easter gives me a chance to acknowledge your beautiful letter about Figures for an Apocalypse ✓ [published transcript of the letter from The Road to Joy includes an error - in the last sentence of the third paragrah, "constant" should be "contact" to read "particular contact with God"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #34.
«All Series«		 1948/03/30 (#02) HLS[x] from Merton I liked very much the poem on your card. Do you know we do not have any of your books here? «detailed view»
Series 1 #35.
«All Series«		 1949/04/08 TALS[x] from Merton I write to you although it is Lent because my correspondence is now completely out of hand ✓ [contains a brief handwritten note at the end by Dom James Fox, abbot of Gethsemani at the time] «detailed view»
Series 1 #36.
«All Series«		 1953/04/07 TLS[x] from Merton It was wonderful to get the letter and the book, which both arrived long enough before Lent for me ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #37.
«All Series«		 1953/07/21 TLS to Merton Your words about Spring Birth gave me the greatest pleasure. I was particularly happy «detailed view»
Series 1 #38.
«All Series«		 1953/08/11 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton In case I do not get a chance to write again before next March, I am doing so now in order to tell ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #39.
«All Series«		 1953/08/11 (#02) other[x] from Merton AN ELEGY FOR THE MONASTERY BARN (Gethsemani- July 30th, 1953.) [-] As though an aged person [poem by Merton] «detailed view»
Series 1 #40.
«All Series«		 1953/08/11 (#03) other[x] from Merton TOWER OF BABEL [-] Oratorio [-] Part One. [-] 1 - Musical introduction - formal and solemn, followed [poem by Merton] «detailed view»
Series 1 #41.
«All Series«		 1954/05/19 HLS to Merton I must clear something up. You will remember that I said when we were with you I had written you «detailed view»
Series 1 #42.
«All Series«		 1954/06/03 TLS[x] from Merton It was fine to get not one but two letters from you. I am fascinated by the stories. I have read ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #43.
«All Series«		 1954/06/16 HLS to Merton Well, here's a third (don't be alarmed), to thank you for reading the stories and saying they were «detailed view»
Series 1 #44.
«All Series«		 1954/10/16 TLS[x] from Merton At last it is raining and I not only have the time to write a letter but am more or less in a mood ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #45.
«All Series«		 1954/11/15 HLS to Merton Of course you are free to use the poem I/They Spoke. You always have such freedom, «detailed view»
Series 1 #46.
«All Series«		 1955/10/14 HLS to Merton Dorothy and I are on the move again - probably for the last time in our lives - and yesterday, «detailed view»
Series 1 #47.
«All Series«		 1955/12/30 TLS[x] from Merton Your wonderful letter from Beaune was a happy surprise. Thank you for thinking of me at the Grande ✓ [earlier copy missing second page - second page (full letter) now copied from collection at Columbia University] «detailed view»
Series 1 #48.
«All Series«		 1956/01/12 HLS to Merton This is your poem if you want it. I wrote it the next day after Bob's in the middle of December, [contains Mark Van Doren's poem "Once in Kentucky (To Thomas Merton)"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #49.
«All Series«		 1956/02/11 TLS[x] from Merton We want to live in the minds of other people and we are surprised when we find ourselves there, ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #50.
«All Series«		 1956/03/18 HLS to Merton Thank you for finding what you did in my poem about you, and thank you for these two poems of yours, «detailed view»
Series 1 #51.
«All Series«		 1956/07/03 TLS[x] from Merton Here are the poems I threatened to send, but at the moment I have not found Birdcage Walk. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #52.
«All Series«		 1956/07/30 TLS[x] from Merton I was deeply moved by your last letter. Certainly there is little one can do about being ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #53.
«All Series«		 1957/04/09 TLS[x] from Merton As I prepare to tell you that I have dedicated my last book of poems to you and Dorothy, I reflect ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #54.
«All Series«		 1957/05/01 HLS to Merton On this perfect May Day, high and blue, with cool air hiding in corners to surprise the warm air «detailed view»
Series 1 #55.
«All Series«		 1957/08/21 HLS to Merton Believe it or not, I have written an autobiograph, to be published next year by Harcourt Brace, «detailed view»
Series 1 #56.
«All Series«		 1957/08/30 TLS from Merton Your letter was wonderful. The idea of the autobiography is a fine one, and I am sure it will be ✓ [letter loaned to Merton Center in 2001 and became part of permanent collection in 2016] «detailed view»
Series 1 #57.
«All Series«		 1957/09/12 TALS to Merton A confession. I was careless about my dates, or rather about my times. We can reach Gethsemani «detailed view»
Series 1 #58.
«All Series«		 1957/09/17 HLS[x] from Merton By all means come in the afternoon of the 28th. I will be expecting you about two. That will give ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #59.
«All Series«		 1958/11/20 TLS[x] from Merton Well, they are hammering again, and I am sitting down to another letter. This time it is Father ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #60.
«All Series«		 1958/12/18 TLS[x] from Merton Quixote is here, where he belongs, among so many others like himself, and most welcome. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #61.
«All Series«		 1959/06/06 TALS[x] from Merton I have not yet really written you the "Dear Mark" letter I should have written for the "feast" ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #62.
«All Series«		 1959/07/24 TLS[x] from Merton This is to you both since I have special thanks to each of you. First to Dot for this book, which I ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #63.
«All Series«		 1959/10/17 HLS[x] from Merton Do not be surprised at the letterhead- I am just in here for a minor operation. But while here ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #64.
«All Series«		 1959/10/31 TL[c] from Merton My last letter to you from the hospital was a little inadequate, especially as I was peeved about ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #65.
«All Series«		 1959/11/02? HCS from Merton To Mark and Dorothy with all love from Tom. [The following printed:] Lovingly prayerful best wishes ✓ [card and envelope loaned to Merton Center in 2001 and became part of permanent collection in 2016 - the catalog of rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz place the Christmas card with the envelope of 1959/11/02, which must have come in the same group of paper, but the envelope could be for letter of 1959/10/31] «detailed view»
Series 1 #66.
«All Series«		 1959/11/12 TLS[x] from Merton Charlie sent me his "confession" signed, "with love from Babylon" which immediately reassured me. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #67.
«All Series«		 1960/02/22 HLS[x] from Merton For once I am going to write this by hand for it is quieter, though you probably won't be able to «detailed view»
Series 1 #68.
«All Series«		 1960/08/09 HPCS to Merton If there were anything left to say about the solitary life, you said it in this beautiful book. «detailed view»
Series 1 #69.
«All Series«		 1960/09/17 TALS[x] from Merton Thank you for your card about the little book on Solitude. I knew you would like it and understand ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #70.
«All Series«		 1960/12/02 HLS to Merton Before I forget your postscript (you probably have), Paula Van Doren is my niece - my brother Paul's «detailed view»
Series 1 #71.
«All Series«		 1961/02/16 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton It is a very long time since I have written. The pretext is this mimeographed thing, a deadpan ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #72.
«All Series«		 1961/02/16 (#02) other[x] from Merton ORIGINAL CHILD BOMB [-] (Points for meditation: to be scratched on the walls of a cave) [poem by Merton with a note to Van Doren: "+ for Mark - a dour meditation. Tom."] «detailed view»
Series 1 #73.
«All Series«		 1961/03/19 TLS to Merton Look here, young man, you're going to talk yourself out of Gethsemani. I don't really mean this, «detailed view»
Series 1 #74.
«All Series«		 1961/05/13 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton All I can say is that as June 6th approaches I am happy that no one but you will be going there ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #75.
«All Series«		 1961/05/13 (#02) other[x] from Merton THE MOSLEMS' ANGEL OF DEATH [-] (Algeria 1961) [-] Like a jeweled peacock he stirs all over [poem by Merton] «detailed view»
Series 1 #76.
«All Series«		 1961/06/14 (#01) HLS to Merton Dorothy and I went down last week as guest of Columbia while you were given the medal. «detailed view»
Series 1 #77.
«All Series«		 1961/06/14 (#02) other[x] to Merton Author Thomas Merton (the Reverend M. Louis, O.C.S.O.) an alumnus and former instructor in English [news release from Columbia University about Merton receiving the University Medal of Excellence - dated 1961/06/01 and sent with 1961/06/14 letter by Van Doren] «detailed view»
Series 1 #78.
«All Series«		 1961/06/14 (#03) other[x]  from Kirk, Grayson / to Merton Gifted master of language, in poem and prose, light-hearted as you are grave, you have reached out [statement from Grayson Kirk, President of Columbia University, on the occasion of Merton receiving the University Medal of Excellence - dated 1961/06/06 and sent with 1961/06/14 letter by Van Doren] «detailed view»
Series 1 #79.
«All Series«		 1961/06/14 (#04) HNS[x] from Russell [no surname] Bob Harron wrote the Merton citation. It was good to have a glimpse of you. [-] Yours [-] Russell [dated 1961/06/06 and sent with 1961/06/14 letter by Van Doren] «detailed view»
Series 1 #80.
«All Series«		 1961/06/14 (#05) HNS[x] from Ayres, Jean President Kirk himself, I am told, wrote the Commencement citation for Thomas Merton, in addition [from Jean Ayres, Assistant to Mr. Herpers at Columbia University, on the occasion of Merton receiving the University Medal of Excellence - dated 1961/06/08 and sent with 1961/06/14 letter by Van Doren] «detailed view»
Series 1 #81.
«All Series«		 1961/06/14 (#06) TLS[x] from Harron, Robert Nothing could have pleased me more than the letter I received from you about the Merton citation. [from Bob Harron, Assistant to the President at Columbia University, on the occasion of Merton receiving the University Medal of Excellence - dated 1961/06/12 and sent with 1961/06/14 letter by Van Doren] «detailed view»
Series 1 #82.
«All Series«		 1961/06/21 TLS[x] from Merton Here is the June solstice and I thank you for the medal in its box with its message of light «detailed view»
Series 1 #83.
«All Series«		 1961/09/09 (#01) HLS to Merton Yes, I'm to be in Louisville (Bellarmine College) December 1 and 2. And since I am due in «detailed view»
Series 1 #84.
«All Series«		 1961/09/09 (#02) TLS[x] from Harron, Robert I have returned from an absence in the Middle West and, in going through recent files, came upon [from Bob Harron, Assistant to the President at Columbia University - dated 1961/07/31] «detailed view»
Series 1 #85.
«All Series«		 1961/09/09 (#03) TL[c]  from Merton to Grayson Kirk Yesterday evening I received from the Father Abbot of our monastery the University Medal for [from Merton to Grayson Kirk, President of Columbia University - dated 1961/06/16 - poor copy, see "Kirk, Grayson" file for clearer version] «detailed view»
Series 1 #86.
«All Series«		 1961/09/20 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton It was good to get your letter and I am very happy that you can come. Sunday is not the best ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #87.
«All Series«		 1961/09/20 (#02) other[x] from Merton A LETTER TO PABLO ANTONIO CUADRA CONCERNING GIANTS [-] At a moment when all the discordant «detailed view»
Series 1 #88.
«All Series«		 1961/11/13 HLS to Merton I have learned that I have lectures (reading) to give both Friday and Saturday right in Louisville, «detailed view»
Series 1 #89.
«All Series«		 1961/11/22 TLS[x] from Merton Thank you for the latest letter: I was deeply touched that the Thurbers wanted a copy of the poem ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #90.
«All Series«		 1961/12/07 HLS to Merton For all your lovely deeds and words, much thanks. I shall never forget that day, at the retreat, «detailed view»
Series 1 #91.
«All Series«		 1962/01/15 TLS[x] from Merton I hear indirectly that this awful business about Charlie is starting up again. I hope that it is ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #92.
«All Series«		 1962/01/18 TLS[x] from Merton J. was here and left yesterday. I asked him if there was anything new about Charlie ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #93.
«All Series«		 1962/01/26 HLS to Merton Your first letter came by chance after the second but no matter: the whole thing is over «detailed view»
Series 1 #94.
«All Series«		 1962/02/04 HLS to Merton Your last two pieces, on Christian Action and Father [includes typescript of Van Doren's poem "Prophet"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #95.
«All Series«		 1962/03/29 HLS[x] from Merton If I have not written sooner about the Prophet poem it is probably because I am too busy with ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #96.
«All Series«		 1962/04/03 HPCS from Merton ~~~ [no words, just a wavy line - there is no signature or return address, but it is addressed to Van Doren and postmarked from New York] «detailed view»
Series 1 #97.
«All Series«		 1962/04/04 HLS to Merton I languished a whole day without the poems you promised. Here they are now, though, «detailed view»
Series 1 #98.
«All Series«		 1962/05/30 HLS to Merton Trips and other silly things delayed my reading of your Letters. I'm sorry for myself, «detailed view»
Series 1 #99.
«All Series«		 1962/08/09 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton Here, a poem. That is all. I have no other pretext for writing, but glad to have this one. ✓ [Cold War Letters #99] «detailed view»
Series 1 #100.
«All Series«		 1962/08/09 (#02) other[x] from Merton GRACE'S HOUSE [-] On the summit: it stands on a fair summit [-] Prepared by winds: and solid smoke [typescript of poem by Merton] «detailed view»
Series 1 #101.
«All Series«		 1962/08/09 (#03) transcript from Merton Here, a poem. That is all. I have no other pretext for writing, but glad to have this one. ✓ [Cold War Letters #99 - copy from bound set] «detailed view»
Series 1 #102.
«All Series«		 1963/07/28 HLS to Merton Long time no write, no see, but plenty often think about. And now comes The Early Legend, «detailed view»
Series 1 #103.
«All Series«		 1963/08/18 (#01) TAL[c] from Merton Thanks for the letter and above all for the book. THE book in every way: yours, ours, the year's, ✓ [verso: draft of letter's first couple of lines] «detailed view»
Series 1 #104.
«All Series«		 1963/08/18 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton Thanks for the letter and above all for the book. THE book in every way: yours, ours, the year's, ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #105.
«All Series«		 1963/09/07 HLS to Merton Paeans to you for your wonderful words about my giant book. I had feared it was too big, «detailed view»
Series 1 #106.
«All Series«		 1964/01/07 TLS to Merton Emblems of a Season of Fury has been giving off daily, nightly, by my chair in the living «detailed view»
Series 1 #107.
«All Series«		 1964/02/11 (#01) TAL[c] from Merton I have not been able to keep track of who owes who letter (as if there were scoresheets in these ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #108.
«All Series«		 1964/02/11 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton I have not been able to keep track of who owes who letter (as if there were scoresheets in these ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #109.
«All Series«		 1964/02/11 (#03) other[x] from Merton MESSAGE TO POETS [-] Brothers, I speak to you from a distance as one who should be there. «detailed view»
Series 1 #110.
«All Series«		 1964/03/17 TLS to Merton Your last letter (not owed: letters aren't owed, any more than breaths are, or smiles) followed me «detailed view»
Series 1 #111.
«All Series«		 1964/07/23 HLS to Merton I break the silence of your summer (if silence) to say that Ted Andrews, our Shaker furniture friend «detailed view»
Series 1 #112.
«All Series«		 1964/08/04 (#01) TAL[c] from Merton Thanks for the word in the silence. I am sorry only of the occasion for it. I had as a matter ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #113.
«All Series«		 1964/08/04 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton Thanks for the word in the silence. I am sorry only of the occasion for it. I had as a matter ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #114.
«All Series«		 1964/12/19 (#01) TL[c] from Merton Yes, you bet we got winter. Your card woke me out of hibernation. Not really. But I have not been ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #115.
«All Series«		 1964/12/19 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton Yes, you bet we got winter. Your card woke me out of hibernation. Not really. But I have not been ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #116.
«All Series«		 1965/01/03 TLS to Merton I shouldn't answer your last letter so soon, but tomorrow we go away for six weeks and I don't want «detailed view»
Series 1 #117.
«All Series«		 1965/09/29 HLS[x] from Merton How are you? I hope in good health now, though last I heard you were in a hospital. «detailed view»
Series 1 #118.
«All Series«		 1965/10/08 HLS[x] from Merton I'm fine, thank you. Hospital? I've never been in one - yet. True, in January I had a traumatic «detailed view»
Series 1 #119.
«All Series«		 1966/02/16 TLS to Merton I have hesitated to intrude upon your retreat, which even the New York Times knows about, «detailed view»
Series 1 #120.
«All Series«		 1966/02/24 (#01) TL[c] from Merton I did not know of the Journal Lax has been keeping. By all means send it along. If it is so good, ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #121.
«All Series«		 1966/02/24 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton I did not know of the Journal Lax has been keeping. By all means send it along. If it is so good, ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #122.
«All Series«		 1966/03/06 TLS to Merton Thank you for telling us how you live - I know you live - and for the Tales of Nasrudin, «detailed view»
Series 1 #123.
«All Series«		 1966/03/17 HPCS[x] from Merton Lax's book is certainly the book of the year. I am really liking it and will send I think «detailed view»
Series 1 #124.
«All Series«		 1966/07/25 (#01) TL[c] from Merton It is so long since I wrote to you and so much water has gone under the bridge that the bridge ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #125.
«All Series«		 1966/07/25 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton It is so long since I wrote to you and so much water has gone under the bridge that the bridge ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #126.
«All Series«		 1966/08/21 (#01) TLS[x] from Merton I forget if I ever sent you these scurrilous lines in praise of Bob Lax's movie career. ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #127.
«All Series«		 1966/08/21 (#02) other[x] from Merton WESTERN FELLOW STUDENTS SALUTE WITH CALYPSO ANTHEMS THE MOVIE CAREER OF [typescript of a poem by Merton - "Western Fellow Students Salute with Calypso Anthems the Movie Career of Robert Lax"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #128.
«All Series«		 1968/02/26 HPCS to Merton Heavy footed, for heavy weather. Ponderous gods down here. We are on a two- [verso: color postcard of a stone statue of the Aztec god Tlaloc - sent from Mexico] «detailed view»
Series 1 #129.
«All Series«		 1968/03/12 (#01) TL[c] from Merton Many thanks for the card of old big boots down in Mexico. I thought seriously of Tlaloc last night ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #130.
«All Series«		 1968/03/12 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton Many thanks for the card of old big boots down in Mexico. I thought seriously of Tlaloc last night ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #131.
«All Series«		 1968/03/15 TLS to Merton I shouldn't answer you so quickly, but the fact is that I was about to write you to say that I had «detailed view»
Series 1 #132.
«All Series«		 1968/04/12 (#01) TL[c] from Merton They can call this Friday Good: bright sun, blue hills, many birds, and the local mockingbird who ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #133.
«All Series«		 1968/04/12 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton They can call this Friday Good: bright sun, blue hills, many birds, and the local mockingbird who ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #134.
«All Series«		 1968/04/16 TLS to Merton Use the poem of course if you really like it, and entitulate it as you seefitulate. I know they're «detailed view»
Series 1 #135.
«All Series«		 1968/06/22 HLS to Merton Monks Pond No. 2 is even better - maybe my favorite is «detailed view»
Series 1 #136.
«All Series«		 1968/07/23 (#01) TL[c] from Merton MPOND iii is now in the press, which is to say it is being typed on stencils by a Jesuit scholastic ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #137.
«All Series«		 1968/07/23 (#02) TLS[x] from Merton MPOND iii is now in the press, which is to say it is being typed on stencils by a Jesuit scholastic ✓ «detailed view»
Series 1 #138.
«All Series«		 1968/11/29 HCS to Merton I never expected to hear from you in those parts, and when you said the monastery would forward mail [Christmas card to Merton (never received) - verso: Van Doren's poem, "Winter Calligraphy"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #139.
«All Series«		 1968/11/no? HPCS[x] from Merton I have been confronting this huge presence for about 10 days. Out of 1 month or more in India, most ✓ [verso of postcard - Mount Kanchenjunga in Darjeeling, India] «detailed view»
Series 1 #140.
«All Series«		 1968/12/10 (#01) telegram from Burns, Flavian WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU OF THE DEATH OF FATHER THOMAS MERTON IN BANGKOK [from Dom Flavian Burns, Abbot of Gethsemani] «detailed view»
Series 1 #141.
«All Series«		 1968/12/10 (#02) HLS[x] to Burns, Flavian Terrible as it is, thank you for sending me tonight the news of Thomas Merton's death. He was one «detailed view»
Series 1 #142.
«All Series«		 1972/08/19 HLS to Center from Van Doren, Mark I have your letter of August 7, 1972, concerning my correspondence with Thomas Merton. «detailed view»
Series 1 #143.
«All Series«		 1973/11/30 TL[x] from Center to Estate of Mark Van Doren Mr. Victor Kramer at Georgia State University has requested permission to look at Dr. Mark Van «detailed view»
Series 1 #144.
«All Series«		 1973/12/03 HLS to Center from Van Doren, Dorothy I am glad to give permission for examination of my late husband's letter to Thomas Merton. «detailed view»
Series 1 #145.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#01) other[x] from Merton Maybe the reason why I have written so little is that I have written so much to everybody under the [see Sub-Section D.9 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark Van Doren from inside mimeograph of "The Cold War Letters" (rare brief version)] «detailed view»
Series 1 #146.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#02) other[x] from Merton +to Mark and Dorothy Van Doren with all blessings and affection in Christ [-] Tom [-] f M. Louis [see Sub-Section D.9 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark Van Doren from inside mimeograph of "Notes on Sacred Art"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #147.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#03) other[x] from Merton +for Mark and Dorothy - with all Christmas blessings - 1960 [-] Tom. [see Sub-Section D.9 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark and Dorothy Van Doren from inside offprint of "The Catholic and Creativity"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #148.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#04) other[x] from Merton +Mark - sorry for my delay in sending this - I can't remember if I already sent you a copy. Tom. [see Sub-Section D.9 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark Van Doren from inside mimeograph of "Notes on Genesis"] «detailed view»
Series 1 #149.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#05) other[x] from Merton +for Mark and Dot with whom I have no disputes for whom I have nothing but the deepest friendship [see Sub-Section B.6 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark and Dorothy Van Doren from inside of Disputed Questions] «detailed view»
Series 1 #150.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#06) other[x] from Merton +to Mark and Dot a rather late announcement but valid for any day. Tom [see Sub-Section B.6 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark and Dorothy Van Doren from inside of Disputed Questions] «detailed view»
Series 1 #151.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no (#07) other[x] from Merton for Mark - handle with care - happy new year [-] Tom [see Sub-Section B.6 for original - copy of inscription by Merton to Mark Van Doren from inside of Seeds of Destruction] «detailed view»

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