The Thomas Merton Center has four ongoing goals:

-         Facilitating on-site and remote access, as appropriate, to materials in the archives for scholars, students and the general public.

Access:

- A small selection of articles published in earlier editions of The Merton Seasonal have now been made available in full text format on the Center’s web site.

- An agreement has been reach for The Merton Seasonal to be included in EBSCO’s Literary Reference Center.

- New electronic finding aids continue to be added to the Center’s web site including a finding aid for the Center’s collections of audio, video and DVD recordings.

- A new section has been added to the research section of the web site relating to syllabi for courses that have been taught on Thomas Merton. It is hoped that these syllabi will encourage others to teach similar courses.

- The search feature of the archival finding aids has been enhanced to include Boolean and phrase queries.

Promotion:

-          Statistics for the use of the archives show a slight reduction in the numbers of visitors 2069 (2,247), and telephone calls 748 (898), with both long 1309 (1,462) and short 3,442 (2,987) reference inquiries remaining steady. The greater part of these inquiries are handled by e-mail. (These figures are for Jan. – Dec. 2011. Figures in brackets are for the same period in 2010.)

-          A wide variety of groups continue to come to the Center for talks introducing the life and thought of Merton or meetings, including two Merton Elderhostels a year in the Spring and Fall.

-          In February and March Mark Meade taught a Continuing Education class on “The Art and Spiritual Aesthetics of Thomas Merton.”

-          In October Mark spoke at the launch of Merton’s collected correspondence with Victoria Ocampo, including the articles he published in Sur, at the American Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Merton Center has worked closely with the editor Juan Javier Negri, president of the Fundación Sur, in the publication of this book.

-          In February Sister Jamie Phelps, O.P. gave the 5^th Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture – “Religion and Racism: Thomas Merton’s Insights for the Twenty-First Century.” The 2012 lecture will be given by Rosanne Haggerty on February 29^th.

-          In September the Center organized a conference entitled: “Contemplation in a Technological Era: Thomas Merton's Insight for the Twenty-First Century.” Speakers included:

o   Albert Borgmann.
o   Phillip Thompson.
o   Claire Badaracco.
o   Daniel P. Horan, OFM.
o   Kathleen Deignan, CND.
o   Gray Matthews.
o   Paul R. Dekar.

Papers from the conference will form the core of volume 24 of The Merton Annual to be published in late spring 2012.

-          The photography exhibit “A Hidden Wholeness – The Zen Photography of Thomas Merton” was exhibited at:

o   St. Andrew's United Church and Centre for Peace, 901 11th Avenue           South, Golden, BC. August 8 - September 5, 2011.
o   Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life, University of Alberta, Augustana, AB. September 10 - September 30, 2011.
o   University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. October 31 - November 10, 2011.

-          The Center was also involved in sponsoring a number of other events including:

o   The Wisdom of the Mystics a workshop by Matthew Fox, February 19^th, 2011.
o   " 'Save me, O God, from the Barrage of Words which inwardly Afflict me' " by Martin Laird, O.S.A., February 28^th, 2011.
o   Iran: Up Close and Personal by Terry Taylor, March 29^th, 2011.

-          The Center continues to publish quarterly a running bibliography listing new works by and about Merton.

-          The Center was involved in the publication and distribution of The Merton Seasonal (volume 36, issues 1-4) and volume 23 of The Merton Annual.

-          In additional to his work as Resident Secretary for the ITMS Paul also served on the Program Committee for the 12^th ITMS Conference held in Chicago, IL in June 2011, is on the Program Committee for the 13^th ITMS Conference to be held in Fairfield, CT and is serving as Treasurer of the ITMS for the 2011-2013 administration.

-          Paul undertook speaking engagements in St. Petersburg, Lexington, Cleveland, Chicago and Golden, BC.

-          The Center loaned ten (10) pieces from the collection to Owensboro Museum of Fine Art for an exhibit entitled “Dimensions in Spirituality,” March 5^th – May 22^nd, 2011.

-          The Center has also been involved in assisting in numerous publication projects as well as book and journal publishers requiring access to images or permissions.

Acquisition:

-          Many new publications, including foreign translations, dissertations and other materials were added to the collection including:

-          Drawing of Owen Merton by Maxwell Stewart Simpson.

-          A watercolor by Owen Merton –“Ruined Houses,” Bermuda, January 29^th, 1922.

-          Icon of “Hagia Sophia Crowning the Youthful Christ (after Victor Hammer)” by Willaim Hart McNichols, donated by Brother Patrick Hart, OCSO.

-          Letters home from one of Merton’s novices, donated by R. A. DeSutter.

-          Copies of 2 postcards sent by Merton to Dan Walsh from Asia donated by Eugene Conahan.

-          Copies of 3 photographs, one of Merton and an unidentified religious sister, the others of Merton’s grave before and after his burial. Donated by Eugene Conahan.

-          An oil painting entitled “Thomas Merton Mystic” by Lawrence I. Janssen.

-          Four typed and signed letters from Thomas Merton to Bedford Doucette written between September 1959 and July 1960

-          1953 Issue of The Jester of Columbia containing reprints of an article and a cartoon by Thomas Merton.

-          19^th Century Russian Icon of the Mother of God with St. Helen, St. Eudokia, St. Julian and St. Simon. Circa 1850. Donated by Robert L. Scully.

-          Copies of 3 letters from Merton to Gertrude Hindemith.

-          Papers of David Cooper, including:

o   1 original and copies of 383 letters between Merton and James Laughlin.
o   Copies of 37 letters between Merton and Robert MacGregor.
o   Copies of letters between Merton and Bruno Schlesinger, Mark Van Doren, and Guy Davenport.
o   Manuscripts relating to the Merton projects Cooper worked on:

§  Thomas Merton and James Laughlin: Selected Letters.
§  Thomas Merton's Art of Denial: The Evolution of a Radical Humanist.
§  Volume 4 of Merton’s Selected Letters.

-          A letter from Merton to Ann Skakel,  along with other carbons and mimeographs donated by Brother Patrick Hart, OCSO.

-          Four original letters from Merton to Patricia Ellen Ricci, along with copies of two others, and a number of mimeographs, two of which are signed by Thomas Merton.

-          An original letter from Thomas Merton to Suzanne Edgell. (6/23/68)

-          Five original calligraphies by Thomas Merton.

-          Copies of 28 letters between Merton and Jacques Maritain held at the Maritain Archives in Kolbsheim.

-          A Bas Relief of St. Bernard by Lawrence I. Janssen.

-          A copy of a letter between Merton and Thérèse Lentfoehr.

-          Copies of 3 letters from Cecilia Pecchioli.

-          A copy of a letter from Eleanor Sibley Riley.

-          A Shadow Box of Merton’s “Van Lines” hermitage donated by Gregg Rampleman.

Financial assistance is needed to assist with funding these special events at the Thomas Merton Center. If you would be interested in assisting with funding, or becoming a major sponsor for one of these events please contact:
Dr Paul Pearson on (502) 272 8177 or by e-mail: pmpearson@bellarmine.edu