A SouthCoast author started writing letters to famous people. Here's who wrote back.

If you could write a letter to anyone, and ask them anything, who would you write to, and what would you ask?

In this, the digital age, it’s become an increasingly rare thing to receive a letter in the mail. They’ve become precious commodities, little tokens we save whenever we can get them.

For Mel Yoken, he has been treasuring his correspondence for 60 years.

His letters are from 20th- and 21st-century luminaries from all walks of life, and he’s sharing some of them in his new book, “A History of Letters: Memorable Quotes From A Moribund Art,” out Nov. 1.

“This book, my ninth, is a labor of love that I commenced years ago, and is possibly my swan song, although I do have enough material to publish a second and third volume, which I just may do,” Yoken told The Herald News.

Yoken has such an abundance of letters, in fact, that they are housed in a collection at the John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence.

"A History of Letters" is sourced from that extensive collection.

“Yoken's personal correspondence with famous scientists, writers, politicians, artists and heads of state spans almost five decades and includes more than 4,000 binders with some 300,000 sheets of correspondence,” the article says.

He is UMass Dartmouth's Chancellor Professor Emeritus of French Language and Literature, and a recipient of the French Legion of Honor, the country's highest order of merit.

Yoken, one of the organizing forces behind the Friends of the Fall River Public Library (he was their first president), the annual Authors’ Brunch at UMass Dartmouth, and many more local literary endeavors, said these letters are mostly from American and French correspondents, who come from all walks and professions.

Letters started 60 years ago

The letters he’s collected over the past 60 years are the result of a curious mind who was brave enough to reach out and begin a conversation.

“A good portion of the letters were the result of my curiosity about the books I had read and studied in my work for my master's degree at Brown and Ph.D. at the Five College program,” Yoken said. Both degrees were in French Literature.

“A History of Letters” features more than 80 individuals who were renowned, for various reasons, over the last 60 years. Some had world-shaping influence that extended even further back than that.

This book contains more than 140 letters from such notable figures as:

• Maya Angelou, poet and civil rights activist

• Louis Armstrong, trumpeter and jazz legend. The letter he sent to Yoken was written on the back of a diet chart: “Lose Weight, The Satchmo Way!”

• Neil Armstrong, astronaut and first man to walk on the moon

• Josephine Baker, dancer, singer, actress, and civil rights activist

• Joe Biden, currently 46th President of the United States

• Agatha Christie, one of the best-selling writers of all time

• Indira Gandhi, the first, and, to date, only female prime minister of India

Other politicians featured in Yoken’s book include: President Ronald Reagan (before he was president), President Bill Clinton, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Ted Kennedy and Rep. John Lewis.

President Richard Nixon wrote a letter

There’s also a letter from President Richard Nixon, written in the year before his resignation, and after the break-in at Watergate.

Hollywood legends Ed Asner and Joan Crawford also have letters in the book, as well as legendary composer Stephen Sondheim.

Yoken also has letters from culinary titans Julia Child and James Beard.

Some of the correspondences took place over decades.

Notable writers like Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison took the time to discuss their work with Yoken.

War correspondent Martha Gellhorn, who was also a novelist, in particular has several generous letters in the book. Gellhorn reported on nearly every major world event that took place during her 60-year career. Ernest Hemingway was her husband from 1940-45.

As luminous as that list is, the book contains even more.

Yoken said, rightly, “Those who have perused this book have been totally amazed by the quotes they read from some of the greatest 20th and 21st century individuals on this planet.”

Put out by Atmosphere Press, “A History of Letters” is available Nov. 1.

For more information about Yoken and the book, visit https://melyoken.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: UMass Dartmouth professor corresponded with Nixon, Clinton, Reagan