The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Riley, Eleanor Sibley

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1948

Volume: 8 item(s); 13 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Thomas Merton responds to a letter, not extant, from Eleanor Sibley Riley. Mrs. Riley seems to be writing to take issue with the protrayal of Zion Episcopal Church of Douglaston, Long Island, and of her husband, the Rev. Dr. Lester Leake Riley, in Merton's autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Merton offers an apology and some explanation for his comments.

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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

This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1948/10/25 TLS[x]from MertonThank you for your letter, which is a beautiful one and fairer than my book.   
 1999/09/04 HLS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick HoltkampHaving seen in your Zion news that you are having some kind of Thos Merton day, I thought  [from Elizabeth Sites, daughter of Riley, to the Rev. Patrick J. Holtkamp, Rector of Zion Episcopal Church / Sites had copied her mother's letter and sent it with this letter to Holtkamp]
 1999/10/19 TLS[x] from Holtkamp, Patrick / to Elizabeth SitesI want to thank you again for your letter and for enclosing the 1948 letter from Thomas Merton   
 1999/10/23 TLS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick HoltkampThank you for your letter. I have been thinking of what you suggested in your letter.   
 2000/01/27? HLS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick HoltkampIt's been a while since I heard from you - so I thought I better write to you before you got  [no date - postmark unclear]
 2000/01/31 TL[x] from Holtkamp, Patrick / to Elizabeth SitesThank you again for having sent the 1948 letter from Thomas Merton to your mother and for your own   
 2000/03/26 TALS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick HoltkampThank you for returning the Tom Merton letter. Since I read that quotation from the tape of his,   
 2006/02/24 HLS[x] from Riley, Christopher / to Patrick HoltkampFirst and foremost, thank you for your hospitality and the tour. You are obviously doing a terrific  [from Christopher Riley, son of Eleanor Riley and Rev. Lester Riley]
        

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