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Merton's Correspondence with:

Peter Geist III

Geist, Peter, III  printer

 
 

Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1965-1966
Volume: 35 item(s); 149 pg(s)

Scope and Content

This is a file in the correspondence of Thomas Merton under the heading: "Geist, Peter, III".

Biography

Peter Geist writes from Matinicus Island, Maine and Saint Louis, Missouri. He was a professor of industrial design at Washington University in Saint Louis and designed books and corporate logos. Merton contacts him to design a books of pictures about Gethsemani Abbey, Monastic Life at Gethsemani (1965, softcover) and Gethsemani: A Life of Praise (1966, hardcover).

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

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

Related Information and Links

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

Series NumberSeries NameTotal Records
1 Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of Gethsemani 22
2 Essays and Poems Sent by Merton to Geist 4
3 Manuscript Quotation Material by Merton 3
4 Ancillary Materials 6

Container List

Click icons for links: ✓="Published | Library Record", ✉="Scanned" | 🗷="Scanned, Viewable Only at Merton Center"

#DateFrom/ToFirst LinesPub ✓Notes
 y/m/dMerton Scan ✉ 
1. Series 1: 1965/07/15 TLS from Merton We are planning to put out a new book of pictures of the monastery, with a brief text. Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... design of a book for Gethsemani Abbey / Sister Deborah, Sister of Loretto, Webster College, St. Louis, Missouri «detailed view»
2. Series 1: 1965/07/23 HLS to Merton I would be extremely happy to help with the design and production of your proposed picture book. Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
3. Series 1: 1965/08/04 HLS from Merton In answer to your questions about the book. 1) It will be black and white 2) I was thinking Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
4. Series 1: 1965/09/21 TALS to Merton After returning to St. Louis from our meeting, Milton Mild and I checked the photographs for the Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
5. Series 1: 1965/09/25 (#01) TLS from Merton Many thanks for your letter of the 21st. Cartainly [sic] it would be a good idea for Arthur Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... Arthur Fillimore / "..personally I feel that 'the monk alone in prayer' bit has been overdone".. / supplying photographs «detailed view»
6. Series 1: 1965/09/25 (#02) TL[c] from Merton Many thanks for your letter of the 21st. Cartainly [sic] it would be a good idea for Arthur Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... Arthur Fillimore / "..personally I feel that 'the monk alone in prayer' bit has been overdone".. / supplying photographs «detailed view»
7. Series 1: 1965/10/05 HLS from Merton The layout: is really fine. Just what I was hoping for and fine for our purpose. I have only two Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... asking two changes: not to put cemetery on back cover as it seems to play into stereotype of Trappists and omitting a photo of a bearded brother with a bell that some in the community found humorous (maybe an inside joke) and not in keeping with the tone of the book «detailed view»
8. Series 1: 1966/01/07 TL[c] from Merton If you have seen the booklet, and I presume you have, you can understand that there is some Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
9. Series 1: 1966/05/13 TNS from Collins, Frederic, Br., O.C.S.O. When I came back from my visit with you I wrote Thomas Merton a note (that is the usual way we Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... mentions Merton's condition recovering from surgery / Collins mentions this note accompanies some of Merton's essays and poems he is sending to Geist, including a "poem while recovering from his operation" (in the file is "With the World in My Bloodstream" and Geist references "The Great Men of Former Times" in a reply, but may have been sent with June 24 note / also in the file are essays, "Love and Solitude," "The Cell," and "Apologies to an Unbeliever") «detailed view»
10. Series 1: 1966/06/24 TNS from Collins, Frederic, Br., O.C.S.O. It was good talking to you on the phone just now. I have been trying to reach Jerry Schwartzel Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... Collins mentions sending a poem by Merton and Geist references "The Great Men of Former Times" in his July 12 reply «detailed view»
11. Series 1: 1966/06/28 HLS from Pius, Br., O.C.S.O. The book finally showed up. Please check it over and return as soon as possible with your honest Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... sending book sample from the printer for Geist's approval «detailed view»
12. Series 1: 1966/07/04 HLS from Collins, Frederic, Br., O.C.S.O. I had B. Raphael type this note as I was getting ready for a business trip to Calif. Father Abbot Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... [brief typed note by Br. M. Raphael, O.C.S.O. with letterhead of Gethsemani Farms, see also letter to Geist of July 28, 1966] plans of Dom James Fox to send Br. Frederic Collins to new Trappist monastery in Santiago, Chile (Monasterio Sta Maria de Miraflores) - Collins first to travel to Trappist monastery at Vina, California (New Clairvaux Abbey) to learn about irrigation «detailed view»
13. Series 1: 1966/07/12 HLS to Merton I enjoyed your articles and poems sent to me by Brother Frederic. I like particularly the line "and Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
14. Series 1: 1966/07/28 TLS from Raphael, Br., O.C.S.O. Container Corporation, contrary to our verbal instructions, proceeded to make boxes #900 and 1300 Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
15. Series 1: 1966/07/29 HLS from Collins, Frederic, Br., O.C.S.O. Thanks for your last letter and the invitation to stay at your house. If my present plans work out Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... [writing from Kansas City, Missouri, on letterhead of the Abbey of New Clairvaux, Vina, California] travel through St. Louis / color proof from Lou Garavoglia (sp?) «detailed view»
16. Series 1: 1966/08/10 (#01) other from Merton Printed Matter [-] Note enclosed Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... [envelope in Merton's handwriting - seems to be sending "A Christian Looks at Zen" based on Geist's response, but the essay is not extant in the donated collection] «detailed view»
17. Series 1: 1966/08/10 (#02) HLS from Pius, Br., O.C.S.O. Thank you for the suggestions on the book. We made all the corrections and they were good ones. Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... book is printed and on its way to bindery «detailed view»
18. Series 1: 1966/08/29 HLS to Merton Thanks much for "A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT ZEN"[.] Who for the prospects and anticipations of Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
19. Series 1: 1966/10/03 HLS from Pius, Br., O.C.S.O. Enclosed is the picture book you worked on some months ago and almost by now forgotten. Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... changes made / comparison to Shirley Burden's "God Is My Life" - "too poetic for me" «detailed view»
20. Series 1: 1967/01/25 TLS from Athanasius, Br., O.C.S.O. This is in the nature of a much delayed report on the mailer-brochure used in the 1966 Gethsemani Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
21. Series 1: 1967/02/13 TLS from Athanasius, Br., O.C.S.O. Thank you for your letter and the photographs, and miscellaneous material relating to the 1966 Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... «detailed view»
22. Series 1: 1968/01/01 TALS from Merton Christmas mail was an avalanche this year: it always is, but more so in 1967. News from friends ✓ Series 1: Correspondence between Geist, Merton, and Monks of... [circulaor letter to "Friends" (see also "Circular Letters" file) labeled "NEW YEAR'S LETTER 1968"] «detailed view»
23. Series 2: 1966/03/no other by Merton NOTE. The following pages were originally written as a preface for the Japanese translation Series 2: Essays and Poems Sent by Merton to Geist... [mimeograph of "Love and Solitude," an essay by Thomas Merton dated March-April 1966 - likely sent with either 1966/05/13 or 1966/06/24 letters] «detailed view»
24. Series 2: 1966/04/no other by Merton I lie on my hospital bed Water runs inside the walls And the musical machinery Series 2: Essays and Poems Sent by Merton to Geist... [mimeograph of "With the World in My Blood Stream," a poem by Thomas Merton dated April 1966 - likely sent with either 1966/05/13 or 1966/06/24 letters] «detailed view»
25. Series 2: 1966/04/no other by Merton This is not going to be an easy tune to sing. To begin with, it is not one of the currently popular Series 2: Essays and Poems Sent by Merton to Geist... [mimeograph of "Apologies to an Unbeliever," an essay by Thomas Merton dated April 1966 - likely sent with either 1966/05/13 or 1966/06/24 letters] «detailed view»
26. Series 2: 1966/07/11 other by Merton This variant of a classic Desert Father saying emphasizes that the most important thing for Series 2: Essays and Poems Sent by Merton to Geist... [mimeograph of "The Cell," an essay by Thomas Merton dated Feast of St Benedict 1966 (July 11, 1966) - likely sent with either 1966/05/13 or 1966/06/24 letters] «detailed view»
27. Series 3: undated/no/no (#01) HLS by James, Bruno Scott This is quite fascinating but for heaven's sake do not let it be published …. It is the unconscious Series 3: Manuscript Quotation Material by Merton... [incomplete letter from Bruno S. James, addressing Merton in the third person, and discussing an unnamed Merton book - it is possible it discusses The Sign of Jonas and was mixed into the pages Merton sends Geist in this file - James was positive of the book in his book review but expresses reservations in this letter] «detailed view»
28. Series 3: undated/no/no (#02) other by Merton 4 .. could have done something more for him than just look at the holy picture and smile, and I was Series 3: Manuscript Quotation Material by Merton... [selections from "The Whale and the Ivy," Part III of The Sign of Jonas, edited versions of Merton's personal journals from December 24, 1946 through August 3, 1947 sent to Peter Geist for possible quotation in Gethsmani: A Life of Praise] «detailed view»
29. Series 3: undated/no/no (#03) other by Merton My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know Series 3: Manuscript Quotation Material by Merton... [excerpts from Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton sent to Peter Geist for possible quotation in Gethsmani: A Life of Praise] «detailed view»
30. Series 4: 1959/no/no other   ON THE OCCASION OF THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF SAINT MARK'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH Series 4: Ancillary Materials... [booklette by Peter Geist for Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Saint Louis, Missouri] «detailed view»
31. Series 4: 1962/no/no other   Peter Geist Designs Series 4: Ancillary Materials... [book of designs, many corporate logos, etc., by Peter Geist] «detailed view»
32. Series 4: 1965/no/no other   ENCOUNTER AND QUESTIONS [-] Life is made of encounters. A true encounter stimulates questions Series 4: Ancillary Materials... [2 copies (one with outer cover and one without) of Monastic Life at Gethsemani, designed by Peter Geist] «detailed view»
33. Series 4: 1967/02/27 other[x]   Firms are Placing Greater Emphasis On Their Trademark Identification By CURT MATTHEWS Of the Post- Series 4: Ancillary Materials... [photocopy of an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the work of Peter Geist] «detailed view»
34. Series 4: 2020/03/26 TLS to Center from Stella, Thomas A. I was sent the contents of this package by a friend whose father, Peter Geist, designed the book Series 4: Ancillary Materials... [letter accompanying donation of Peter Geist papers] «detailed view»
35. Series 4: 2020/04/08 TLS to Center from Stella, Thomas A. I just came across the enclosed letter from Merton to Peter Geist that I failed to include Series 4: Ancillary Materials... [letter with an additional letter found since March 26, 2020 donation] «detailed view»
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