The Thomas Merton Center has four ongoing goals:

 -         Preserving the materials that comprise the Merton archives.

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

-         Promoting use of the archives and Center, particularly by faculty and students of Bellarmine University.

-         Acquiring additional Merton and Merton-related materials as they become available through gift or public sale.

 Once again achievements have been made in all of these areas:

Preservation:

-     A project to re-house the Center’s collection of Merton’s correspondence in state-of-the-art archival enclosures is underway.

-     Miscellaneous photographs by Thomas Merton without negatives are currently being digitized and re-housed. A similar project has already been completed for photographs by Merton with negatives and for photographs of Merton.

-     The footage of Merton’s last day in Bangkok has been transferred to DVD format for easier access for visitors to the Merton Center.

Access:

-     The on-line databases on the Center’s web site continue to be expanded and updated.

-     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.

-     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.

-     A new page contains information about Owen Merton, Thomas Merton’s father, and it includes a gallery of the paintings by Owen held in the archives of the Thomas Merton Center. This is available at: www.merton.org/Owen/

-     Over the course of the year both Paul and Mark visited a number of other archives with Merton holdings including Syracuse University, Northwestern and Dartmouth College. Knowledge of the holdings of other institutions is useful in assisting visitors to the Merton Center and in answering reference inquiries.

Promotion:

 -          Statistics for the use of the archives show a slight reduction in the numbers of visitors 2,595 (2,729), and telephone calls 967 (1,083), with both long 1,134 (1,278) and short 3,463 (3,441) reference inquiries remaining steady. The greater part of these inquiries are handled by e-mail. (These figures are for Jan. – Dec. 2009. Figures in brackets are for the same period in 2008.)

-          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 Barbara Holmes, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean at Memphis Theological Seminary, gave the 3rd Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture – “A Restless Longing: Thomas Merton and African Diasporan Contemplative Legacies.” The 2010 lecture will be given by Father Bryan Massingale on February 22nd, by Father Bryan Massingale.

-          On Tuesday 24th March Jim Douglass gave a presentation entitled: “Merton, JFK and the Unspeakable.”

-          On 26th October Bonnie Thurston gave a presentation entitled: “‘I Spoke Most of Prayer’: Thomas Merton, September 11 - October 15, 1968.”

-          The photography exhibit “A Hidden Wholeness – The Zen Photography of Thomas Merton” was exhibited at:
                    - University of Kentucky - 23rd November, 2008 – 15th January, 2009.
                    - Nazareth College, Rochester, NY. 11th June - September 2009.
        During 2010 the exhibit is booked for exhibit in Cleveland, OH, British Columbia and Toronto.

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

        o        “Journey of Hope” with Bill Pelke, Shujaa Graham and Terri Steinberg.
        o        “Remembering Louisville in the 1960s: Freedom Fighters, Police Repression and the Right to Free Speech” which included a poetry reading by Frank X. Walker and Mitchell Douglas and a community forum with Mike Honey, Bill Allison, Martha Allen, and others.
        o        “The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court.”

-          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 34, issues 1-4) and volume 21 of The Merton Annual.

-          Paul completed his term as Program Chair for the 11^th ITMS Conference held in Rochester, NY in June 2009. In additional to his work as Resident Secretary for the ITMS he is also on the Program Committee for the 12^th ITMS Conference to be held in Chicago, IL in June 2011 and is serving as Treasurer of the ITMS for the 2009-2011 administration.

-          Paul and Mark both participated in the 11^th ITMS conference with both giving concurrent session presentations.

-          Paul also undertook speaking engagements in Ireland, Paducah, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Rochester and Frankfort.

-          Mark gave a presentation on Thomas Merton and Diversity to for a Dialogue on Diversity organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Bellarmine.

-          Singer and songwriter Joan Baez visited the Merton Center in March.

-          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:

          o        San Bernardo, el Ultimo de los Padres. Spanish. 1956.
          o        The Psalms are Our Prayer. London: Burns and Oates, 1957.
          o        A Catholic Prayer Book with an introduction by Thomas Merton. New York, 1958.
          o        Eleven theses and dissertations were added to the collection, including a copy of “Thomas Merton, Social Critic of the Times” by Sister Saint Elizabeth of the Cross – the earliest doctoral dissertation completed on Merton in 1951 at the University of Ottawa.
          o        Settings of poems by Thomas Merton set to music by Gwyneth Walker and Dan Tucker.

-          34 original letters and three calligraphies donated by Brendan Collins.

-          Dorothy Day materials including 100 letters to Joe Zarella from Day, signed books and other materials from the family of Joe Zarella Family.

-          Copies of Merton’s letters to Carrera Andrade.

-          Copies of correspondence between Merton and Jim Forest from the Nazareth College archives.

-          Color Photograph of Merton – Wasserman family.

-          The Center purchased twenty original watercolors by Thomas Merton’s father, Owen Merton.

-          Summer 1936 issue of The Columbia Jester containing 4 cartoons by Merton.

-          Signed Circular Letter from Easter 1968.

-          Signed Circular Letter, with a handwritten note, Pre-Lent 1968 donated by Robert de Viana.

-          A copy of The Ox Mountain Parable printed by Victor Hammer’s Stamperia del Santuccio.

-          Books used by Thomas Merton (from Abbey of Gethsemani) containing his marginalia:

o        Barthes, Roland. On Racine.
o        Benz, Ernst. Evolution and Christian Hope: Man’s Concept of the Future, from the early Fathers to Teilhard de Chardin.
o        Bree, Germaine. Camus.
o        Buber, Martin. The Way of Man: According to the Teaching of Hasidism.
o        Burden, Shirley. I Wonder Why.
o        Camus, Albert. La Chute.
o        Camus, Albert. L’Homme Revolte.
o        Camus, Albert. L’Etranger.
o        Camus, Albert. The Fall and Exile and the Kingdom.
o        Camus, Albert. Carnets: Janvier 1942-Mars 1951.
o        Carruth, Hayden. After The Stranger: Imaginary Dialogues with Camus.
o        Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring.
o        Chaudhuri, Haridas and Frederic Spiegelberg. The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo: A Commemorative Symposium.
o        Cruickshank, John. Albert Camus and the Literature of Revolt.
o        Eliade, Mircea. Myths, Dreams and Mysteries: The Encounter Between Contemporary Faiths and Archaic Realities.
o        Ellul, Jacques. The Presence of the Kingdom.
o        Ellul, Jacques. The Technological Society.
o        Fromm, Erich. Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis.
o        Herrigel, Eugen. Zen.
o        King, Winston L. Buddhism and Christianity: Some Bridges of Understanding.
o        Matsuo, Bashō. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and other Travel Sketches.
o        McLuhan, Marshall. The Medium is the Massage.
o        McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.
o        McLuhan, Marshall. War and Peace in the Global Village.
o        Meerloo, Joost. Illness and Cure.
o        Moore, Ruth. Niels Bohr: The Man, His Science, and the World They Changed.
o        Nguyen-van-Huy, Pierre. La Métaphysique du Bonheur Chez Albert Camus.
o        Northbourne, Lord. Religion in the Modern World.
o        Ohara, Miyao. The Songs of Hiroshima: An Anthology.
o        The Oxford Book of Italian Verse, XIIIth Century-XIXth Century.
o        Pallis, Marco. The Way and the Mountain.
o        Pasternak, Boris. Fifty Poems.
o        Pasternak, Boris. Essai D'Autobiographie.
o        Pasternak, Boris. The Last Summer.
o        Pasternak, Boris. Poems.
o        Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught.
o        Reps, Paul. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
o        Rilke, Rainer Maria. The Life of the Virgin Mary.
o        Sartre, Jean-Paul. Les Séquestrés d'Altona.
o        Scheler, Max. Man’s Place in Nature.
o        Steichen, Edward. The Family of Man.
o        Stern, Karl. The Third Revolution.
o        Suzuki, D.T. Mysticism Christian and Buddhist: The Eastern and Western Way.
o        Suzuki, D.T. Studies in Zen.
o        Suzuki, D.T. Zen and Japanese Culture.
o        Verwilghen, Albert Felix. Mencius: The Man and His Ideas.
o        Watkin, E. I. Poets and Mystics.

-          A donation of papers from Michael Mott.

-          The Center received a gift of various materials from Mrs. Jean DeGrazia (sister of Brother Irenaeus, a formed Gethsemani monk who died in August 2009) The gift included:

o        Numerous handwritten or typed notes from Thomas Merton to Br. Irenaeus.
o        Signed copy of Disputed Questions.
o        A Photograph of Clare Booth Luce, signed by Luce.
o        A Small Book of Poems by James Laughlin, given to Merton by Laughlin and inscribed by him: “For Tom Merton from J Laughlin.” 252 of limited printing of 500.
o        Blanket used by Thomas Merton.
o        A number of other items relating to monastic life at the Abbey of Gethsemani.

-          A drawing of Hagia Sophia by Victor Hammer donated by Brother Benedict Simmonds of Holy Cross Abbey.

-          A signed copy of The Christmas Sermons of Bl. Guerric of Igny and other first editions donated by Richard Bizot.

-          A signed, limited edition of The Tower of Babel donated by Richard P. O’Donnell.