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001	bcumarc_MS1986-063
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099	|aMS1986-063
100	1 |aMerton, Thomas, |d1915-1968.
245	10|aThomas Merton Collection|f1940-1968.
506	|aRestrictions on AccessCollection is open for research.
520	2 |aThe collection documents the life and work of Thomas Merton. The materials date from 1940 through 1986. They are composed primarily of monographs, articles, essays, reviews, prefaces, poems, and other writings by Merton. The vast majority of textual materials is in the form of typescripts (including mimeographed works of limited distribution), including an original typescript of The Seven Storey Mountain. The collection also contains Merton's correspondence with Terrence Connolly, S.J., Brendan Connolly, S.J., Mary Stack McNiff and other individuals. Additionally, the materials include photographs of Merton and original ink calligraphic drawings by Merton. The collection also includes reviews of Merton's works and writings about Merton.
524	|aPreferred CitationIdentification of item, Box Number, Folder Number, Thomas Merton Collection, MS1986-063, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.
544	1 |aRelated Material at the John J. Burns Library, Boston CollegeJames Forest - Thomas Merton Collection. MS1989-021.Francis W. Sweeney -Thomas Merton Correspondence, Box 36, Folders 35-40. Humanities Series : Director's Files. MS2002-037.Terrence Connolly - Francis W. Sweeney Correspondence (re: The Seven Storey Mountain Mss). University Librarian's Records. BC1988-019. Thomas Merton Library (see Quest, Boston College's online catalog, keyword search MERTON).
545	|a
546	|aEnglish
561	|aProvenanceThe Thomas Merton Collection is an intentionally assembled collection of manuscripts, correspondence, periodical clippings, photographs, art work and ephemera primarily by (but also about) Thomas Merton. As the Department accessioning system only began in 1986, the exact provenance of most of the items found in the collection is unknown. The accession number MS1986-063 is used to identify most of the collection and serves as the overall collection number.The genesis of the collection was the December 1948 gift of an original The Seven Storey Mountain typescript by Rev. Francis W. Sweeney, S.J., to the Boston College Library. The following spring, it served as one of the chief attractions of the Library's Thomas Merton Exhibit. After Sweeney's death in 2002, Boston College archivists also discovered three snapshots of Merton with his friends at St. Bonaventure College on commencement day (1941 June 8) amongst his personal papers. It is not known how Sweeney acquired these photographs (accession number MS2003-11). Following the exhibit and until Merton's death in 1968, University Librarians Rev. Terrence Connolly, S.J., and Rev. Brendan Connolly, S.J., gave Merton certain "library privileges." Merton was allowed to borrow books from Boston College not available to him at Gethsemani Abbey. The Library also photocopied articles from journals. In exchange, Merton sent signed books, manuscripts, mimeographed works, publisher's proofs and even carbon-copied letters which were added to the Merton Collection. The correspondence found in this collection documents this exchange.Other friends of the Boston College Library have also added their original Merton material to the collection. Many items were donated to the Boston College Library by Mary and Philip McNiff. Philip McNiff was the director of the Boston Public Library and Mary McNiff was the Assistant to the Librarian at St. John's Seminary (Boston, Massachusetts). Mary McNiff befriended Merton through a series of letters. Besides typescripts and mimeographed items, Merton gave Mary McNiff several original pen and ink calligraphic drawings. She documented their friendship and exchange of letters in a short article entitled "And a New World Be Born from These Green Tombs" published in the 1969 March 1 issue of The Pilot (see Box 28, Folder 53). Local journalist Dorothy Wayman donated her small collection of Merton correspondence to the Boston College Library in August 1953.Rev. Arthur A. MacGillivray, S.J. gathered a variety of periodical cuttings which were integrated into the collection. The clippings consisted largely of poems by Merton and reviews of Merton's works.
856	42|u|zView the finding aid online.