The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Yungblut, June (Johnson), 1925-1982

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1967-1968, 1983

Volume: 48 item(s); 73 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Merton and Yungblut exchange letters regarding the Civil Rights Movement; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Albert Camus; and Samuel Beckett (who was the subject of Yungblut's doctoral dissertation). Merton writes a particularly long letter in defense of his identification with the "Christ of the Byzantine icons". Merton publishes some of Yungblut's writings in Monks Pond.

Biography

June Yungblut is a Quaker and scholar with graduate degrees from Yale and Emory. Her ancestry with the Society of Friends (Quakers) dates back to Thomas Fitzwater, who came to America aboard the Welcome alongside William Penn. At the time of writing to Merton, she was co-director of the Quaker House in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband John Yungblut. She and her husband were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and were friends of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. June Yungblut attempted to arrange a retreat for Martin Luther King, Jr. at Gethsemani Abbey; however, King was not able to come because of the situation in Memphis which culminated in his assassination. (Source: The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 635.)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See also published letters from Merton to Yungblut in The Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 635-648; and see also contributions to Monks Pond, Volume 3 and 4.

Other Finding Aids

If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
   

Series List

This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1967/05/07 HLSto MertonI'm sending to you under separate cover the Kalakowski article, "The Priest and the Jester."  [letter started 1967/05/07 and continued 1967/05/11]
 1967/06/22 TL[c]from MertonThe trouble with letters like yours that say so much is that they don't get answered, at least notYes [to John and June Yungblut]
 1967/07/08 TLSto MertonI find that I have quoted you three times in Part I of my dissertation which is a section   
 1967/09/08 TL[c]from MertonI just got John's letter. I have looked back to June's which has been waiting for an answerYes [to John and June Yungblut]
 1967/10/21 TALSto MertonI have been slow to answer your good letter for a number of reasons. In early September, while your   
 1967/11/19 TL[c]from MertonThe presence of Fr Methodius from Conyers reminded me that I had been owing you a letter and thatYes  
 1967/12/03 TL[c]from MertonThis is to let you know that I have received the dissertation, which arrived safely, and I am aboutYes  
 1967/12/06 TALSto MertonHow I hope the Abbot agreed to your mission with the AFSC team and the NLF representatives-   
 1967/12/12 (#01)TL[c]from MertonYou have seen the globes. You have swum the Atlantic. You have spoken the unknown word.Yes  
 1967/12/12 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonYou have seen the globes. You have swum the Atlantic. You have spoken the unknown word.Yes  
 1967/12/20 HLSto MertonWe're coming on the 28th - if that is really all right - by suppertime, I think/ John says he would   
 1968/01/03 HNS[x]from MertonI hope you did not get caught in all this mess of snow and sleet! Here's the list. Maybe I should   
 1968/01/10 HLSto MertonThirty-six books plus innumerable articles! You really must stop writing if you're to be read   
 1968/01/16 TL[c]from MertonThanks June for yours of 11th. As a sunken continent overgrown with seaweed I gladly consentYes [to John and June Yungblut]
 1968/01/20 TL[c]from MertonBeckett arrived in the midst of a flu epidemic and so it happened that last night, being holed upYes 🗷  
 1968/01/25 HLSto MertonYou make light of your illness but it will be a relief to us to know that you are well again.   
 1968/02/no? TLS[x]from MertonFine letter, quick answer to only part of it. First I heard Martin L King went to jail sometimeYes [on stationery stating, "From the Desk of Father Louis, OCSO" - under which Merton quips "as if I had a desk"]
 1968/03/02 (#01)TLS[x]from MertonI am mailing back the Jarvie book today and will keep the other until Monday as I am still working   
 1968/03/02 (#02)TLSto MertonTime and events have had me in an underwater tow since your note and articles arrived. I think I   
 1968/03/06 (#01)TAL[c]from MertonFirst reason for this letter is to get to you with information about dates for March-April.Yes  
 1968/03/06 (#02)TALS[x]from MertonFirst reason for this letter is to get to you with information about dates for March-April.Yes  
 1968/03/12 HLSto MertonSunday I gave a lecture on your writing on Camus and in <u>The New Man</u> placing it within   
 1968/03/23 TALS[x]from MertonThis to acknowledge receipt of the mss. Beckett article fine, will fit it in to MP iii or ivYes  
 1968/03/29 (#01)TL[c]from MertonI'll send some more of MPOND when I get a chance to sort and staple some more. Right now I haveYes  
 1968/03/29 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonI'll send some more of MPOND when I get a chance to sort and staple some more. Right now I haveYes  
 1968/04/05 TL[c]from MertonBy a strange coincidence I happened to be out in Lexington when Martin was shot and I heard allYes  
 1968/04/06 (#01)HLSto MertonSome of us have been at Coretta's house since the assassination. The city is quiet. Ralph Abernathy   
 1968/04/06 (#02)HLSto MertonEn route to Coretta. Have your letter for her. Take care of yourself. I think of spirits like   
 1968/04/09 TL[c]from MertonToday is the day of the funeral. The other day I offered Mass for Martin, and two Anglican friendsYes  
 1968/04/11 TALSto MertonI am going to take your fine letter with the music and songs over to Coretta today. Harry Belafonte   
 1968/04/15 TL[c]from MertonYour long and moving letter came today, with the two postscripts-- (but not the telegrams, which I'dYes  
 1968/04/28 TALSto MertonCoretta does approve the memorial TV program you suggested with the offering of your freedom poems  [also includes a handwritten note from 1968/04/30]
 1968/05/09 HLS[x]from MertonYour fine letter reached me out here in the California Redwoods. I am giving a few conferencesYes  
 1968/05/18 TLSto MertonGood news! Bishop Bernadin just called to tell me that Martin Work, of the National Conference   
 1968/05/23 TL[c]from MertonI am writing this in the awareness that you are in the middle of everything now in the Poor Peoples'Yes  
 1968/07/02 TLSto MertonJohn is in prison. The enclosed carbon of a letter, very confidential, will describe   
 1968/07/13 TL[c]from MertonI was a bit distressed by the news that John had been jailed-- more because of the circumstancesYes  
 1968/07/19 TALSto MertonFather Al Clarke, who saw Phil in the Maryland jail, telephoned this morning for me and found   
 1968/07/29 TL[c]from MertonI much appreciate your letter of a week ago. I did not know Nhat was possibly in Thailand.Yes  
 1968/08/20 telegramto MertonConcert powerful and moving [-] Congratulations from Alexis and me. Signed June  [from Washington, D.C., after performance of Merton's "Freedom Songs"]
 1983/03/23 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to John YungblutI am a professor at Nazareth College of Rochester and an author. I have been appointed   
 1983/04/05 TLS from Yungblut, John / to William ShannonThank you for your letter of March 23 concerning the correspondence between June Yungblut and Thomas   
 1983/04/10 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to John YungblutI want to thank you for answering so quickly my letter to you regarding the Merton correspondence.   
 1983/05/05 TLS from Yungblut, John / to William ShannonThank you for your friendly letter of April 10. I appreciate your being sensitive to my feelings   
 1983/05/19 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to John YungblutThank you for your kind letter of May 5th which came while I was away in Louisville working   
 1983/07/05 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to John YungblutBy now I presume you have returned from England. I hope that you [sic] talk was successful   
 undated/no/no other[x] <u>DR. JUNE J. YUNGBLUT</u> [-] Born a Southerner. Ancestor, Thomas Fitzwater, Quaker preacher,   
 undated/no/no other[x] The light plane took off side-slipping more than ascending and I felt the familiar  [article by Yungblut on memories and significance of Merton]
        

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