The Thomas Merton Center:
The Thomas Merton Center is the official repository of Merton’s artistic estate which includes over thirteen hundred photographs and nine hundred drawings in addition to his writing. The center archives over forty-five thousand Merton, Merton related materials.
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was an American writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Trappist, Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Story Mountain, which remains in print after more than fifty years, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism and writings on peace, social justice and ecumenicism.
The Thomas Merton Collection at Bellarmine University:
In 1967, one year before his death, Merton established the Merton Legacy Trust, naming Bellarmine College as the repository of his manuscripts, letters, journals, tapes, drawings, photographs, and memorabilia. Two years later, in October 1969, the College established the Thomas Merton Center, with the Collection as its focal point. The Center serves as a regional, national, and international resource for scholarship and inquiry on Merton and his works and also on the ideas he promoted: contemplative life, spirituality, ecumenism, East-West relations, personal and corporate inner work, peace, and social justice. The Merton Center regularly sponsors courses, lectures, retreats, seminars, Elderhostels, and exhibits for scholars, students, and the general public.
The Merton center in conjunction with the International Thomas Merton Society publishes the quarterly review The Merton Seasonal and supports publication of The Merton Annual. It serves as the central office for the International Thomas Merton Society, founded at the Center in 1987, and is affiliated with other international centers, such as the Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Centro International de Estudios Misticos in Avila, Spain.
Funding Grants:
International Thomas Merton Society (ITMS)
Scholarships and Fellowships
Daggy Youth/Student Scholarships enable young people (ages 14-29) to participate in an International Thomas Merton Society General Meetings, thereby inspiring the next generation of Merton readers and scholars.
Shannon Fellowships:
Up to five Shannon Fellowships awards, of a maximum of $750. each, are awarded annually to enable qualified researchers to visit the Merton Center archives in Louisville, Kentucky, or other major repositories of Thomas Merton materials, such as the Lentfoehr Collection at Columbia University or the St. Bonaventure University Friedsam Library archives in Olean, New York.
For more information please visit the website.