Certain manuscripts of Merton’s remain restricted by the Trustees. The Curator will advise a reader who has requested a manuscript that is on the restricted list.

Non-restricted, unpublished manuscripts, including the "working or reading" notebooks may be read and notes taken. They may not, however, be copied, quoted, paraphrased, published or reprinted without the permission of the Merton Legacy Trustees. As the personal journals have been published with a minimum of editing, access to the original holographic journals remains restricted by the Trustees for reasons of preservation.

The copyright of masters theses and dissertations is held by the author, whether or not the work has been registered with the United States Copyright Office or similar foreign agency.

If copies of published manuscript materials are desired, they may be made from the published copy of the manuscript subject only to the general copyright regulations governing published materials. If for serious reasons the copy must be obtained from the manuscript itself, permission must be requested from the Merton Legacy Trust. This general policy also covers any copying of manuscripts that may vary from or supplement the published materials.