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Individual Series View, Merton's Correspondence with:

Collins, Angela of the Eucharist, Mother, O.C.D., 1917-2003


Series 2, Correspondence between Sr. Angela and John Howard Griffin.


Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1960-1968, 1970-1974
Volume: 114 item(s); 224 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Herein is a highly personal and lively correspondence between good friends and fellow religious. The extant file does not seem to be a complete set of their correspondence. Early letters, such as an original of what became the Cold War Letter, are not i

Biography

Early in their correspondence, Sr. Angela of the Eucharist (née Viola M. Collins) was a Carmelite Prioress in Louisville, Kentucky. Between 1965 and 1966, she would became Mother Angela of the Eucharist, appointed superior of the Carmelite monastery in S

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

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

Related Information and Links

See also: Cold War Letter #42, published in Witness to Freedom; letters from Merton to Mother Angela in <

Series List

Series NumberSeries NameTotal Records
1 Correspondence between Sr. Angela and Thomas Merton. 64
2 Correspondence between Sr. Angela and John Howard Griffin. 29
3 Notes kept by Mother Angela during Meeting with Thomas Merton on the Future of Contemplative Life, May 1968. 2
4 Materials Related to Merton's Death and Funeral. 9
5 Other Materials Related to Published Correspondence and Conference on Contemplative Life. 10

Container List

Series#DateFrom/ToFirst LinesPub ✓Notes
 y/m/dMerton Scan ✉ 
Series 2 #1.
«All Series«		 1970/07/01 TLS from Griffin, John Howard As you may know, I am preparing the authorized biography of Thomas Merton. I have found found [sic] «detailed view»
Series 2 #2.
«All Series«		 1970/07/20 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Thank you for your wonderful letter of July 18th. I will look forward with relish to your «detailed view»
Series 2 #3.
«All Series«		 1970/10/27 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Thank you with all my heart for your wonderful letter and your prayers. They had to put the surgery «detailed view»
Series 2 #4.
«All Series«		 1970/11/13 (#01) TLS from Griffin, John Howard A week here in Tom's hermitage, working on the book before I have to return to enter the hospital «detailed view»
Series 2 #5.
«All Series«		 1970/11/13 (#02) other by Merton July 2 (1965) Visitation [-] This morning I had a long morning up at the hermitage. The main event Griffin had first access to Merton's journals as the original authorized biographer and sends, for personal use, an entry where Merton references watching for Mother Angela's airplane as it flies from Louisville to Georgia «detailed view»
Series 2 #6.
«All Series«		 1970/12/06 TL from Griffin, John Howard I am just home from the hospita, and am dictating this but will not be able to sign it. I wanted you «detailed view»
Series 2 #7.
«All Series«		 1970/12/25? TCS from Griffin, John Howard Thank you for your wonderful note and Christmas greetings. Yes, this will be our finest Christmas «detailed view»
Series 2 #8.
«All Series«		 1971/02/24 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Your card came this morning just as we were headed for Mass and reception of ashes, so we promptly [dated "Ash Wednesday" - postmark was February 26, 1971 - Ash Wednesday February 24, 1971] «detailed view»
Series 2 #9.
«All Series«		 1971/06/28 TALS from Griffin, John Howard It is early (5:30 a.m.) here at the hermitage. I came in last evening for another work session here «detailed view»
Series 2 #10.
«All Series«		 1971/07/07 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Thank you for your marvelous letter and your prayers; what a joy to have such a letter in this «detailed view»
Series 2 #11.
«All Series«		 1971/07/27 TLS from Griffin, John Howard We celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel here with our old friend, Fr. J. Stan Murphy, «detailed view»
Series 2 #12.
«All Series«		 1971/08/18 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Thank you for your lovely letter. It is the purest kind of joy to hear from you. Now, I have «detailed view»
Series 2 #13.
«All Series«		 1971/09/02 TLS from Griffin, John Howard At the end of the longest and one of the tiredest days of my life, but I did want to thank you with «detailed view»
Series 2 #14.
«All Series«		 1971/09/03 TCS from Griffin, John Howard This hasty note to tell you that the tape arrived in perfect condition this noon. Thank you with all «detailed view»
Series 2 #15.
«All Series«		 1971/09/05 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Here are the letters and thank you so much for them. They helped to clarify some of the things I had «detailed view»
Series 2 #16.
«All Series«		 1971/09/09 HCS from Griffin, John Howard Am returning your photos of TM, plus some prints in color I had made from them. A great thanks «detailed view»
Series 2 #17.
«All Series«		 1972/11/27 TLS from Griffin, John Howard How good to have your news. I, too, have thought of you so much in these past weeks and days. «detailed view»
Series 2 #18.
«All Series«		 1973/04/17 HCS from Griffin, John Howard Happy Easter to Mother Angela and the Sisters of the Savannah Carmel. John and all the family «detailed view»
Series 2 #19.
«All Series«		 1973/04/17? HCS from Griffin, John Howard Happy Easter to Mother Angela and the Sisters of the Savannah Carmel. John and all the family [includes a photograph of birds] «detailed view»
Series 2 #20.
«All Series«		 1973/05/19 TALS from Griffin, John Howard What a great joy to hear from you again, especially when I was regretting so deeply that I could not [sends photographs of his children and a reproduction of the cover of his book about Jacques Maritain] «detailed view»
Series 2 #21.
«All Series«		 1973/06/29 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Thank you for your lovely letter. I was beginning to fear you might be ill. Thank God you aren't. «detailed view»
Series 2 #22.
«All Series«		 1974/05/22 TALS from O'Callaghan, Tommie Perhaps you remember me as a friend of Father Walsh's and Thomas Merton. I am writing in my capacity «detailed view»
Series 2 #23.
«All Series«		 1974/08/25 TLS from Griffin, John Howard Your blessed letter just came. I, too, have been thinking of you and promising myself the pleasure «detailed view»
Series 2 #24.
«All Series«		 1977/09/21 TLS from Noonan, Joe John Griffin asked me to tell you how much he appreciated the letter you sent to Father George. [Joe Noonan was staff cartoonist at this time for The Way in San Francisco and a good friend of John Howard Griffin] «detailed view»
Series 2 #25.
«All Series«		 1977/12/27 TLS from Noonan, Joe It did my soul good to get your Christmas note. I'd like to report that John is better, but I can [Joe Noonan was staff cartoonist at this time for The Way in San Francisco and a good friend of John Howard Griffin - includes hand drawn cartoon, "Every day is mother's day with me."] «detailed view»
Series 2 #26.
«All Series«		 1978/12/20 HCS from Griffin, John Howard Your prayers mean everything. The heart is almost not functioning. Surgery next month. Peace «detailed view»
Series 2 #27.
«All Series«		 1979/12/25? HCS from Griffin, John Howard I think of you so often but am totally bedridden now and can scarcely write at all. When the pain is [Collins notes that he references the coming year, 1980 ("May 1980 be good for all of us") and that "he died Sept. 9th of this year. (1980.) «detailed view»
Series 2 #28.
«All Series«		 undated/12/25? HCS from Griffin, John Howard Seasons Greetings to Sister Angela and all the Sisters of Savannah, from the John Howard Griffin [undated Christmas card with a photograph of a lamb on the front] «detailed view»
Series 2 #29.
«All Series«		 undated/no/no transcript   Excerpts taken from Father Louis' essay "Peace: Christian Duties and Perspectives." (I) The tragedy «detailed view»

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