I've been a London buff since 1940. My late father knew Jack London's dentist, as I did also. Doctor Suey got me interested in Jack's life and work. This was a life-long passion for me (still is). Anyhow, my sister who lives in Berkeley was trying to locate a Jack London book for me and phoned Russ at the Bookstore. The book was mailed to me. This happened late in 1979. On a summer trip in 1980 I went to the Bookstore in Glen Ellen and met Russ and Winnie.
--Robert Vanden Berghe
First met Russ and Winnie Kingman at a Jack London dinner meeting at the Sea Wolf Restaurant on Jack London Square in the early 1970's. I was teaching public school in the 5th and 6th grades and my Union District (San Jose) librarian turned me on to the Jack London group. While at dinner I won a door prize in the form of an old book, Prosit, A Book of Toasts, Copyright 1904, compiled by Clotho and produced by Paul Elder and Co., San Francisco, California. San Francisco is my birthplace. Russ inscribed inside, "For Frank and Barbara Broz: I hope you have as much fun roaming through this book as I have. Russ Kingman." Over the years I have used various sayings from the book to great advantage and upon returning to yet another Jack London dinner the following year selected my favorite and shared a Navy toast with the group. It was:
To the Navy.
Here's to the ships of our Navy,
Here's to the ladies of our land;
May the first be ever well-rigged
And the latter ever well-manned!
Algernon S. Sullivan
At that point Russ Kingman jumped up and said, "Frank, if those ladies are well-rigged they are always well-manned." The crowd roared.
--Frank Broz
I met them in 1977 after a trip to Alaska. I flew from Juneau to San Francisco and took a few days off in California. I stopped by the bookshop, but Russ had already heard about me through Harold Spink--a garage owner in Platteville who happened to be a Jack London buff. Spink led a very reclusive life with his aunt. It seems Jack London's books were the sunshine of his life. Corresponding with Russ was also a highlight of his dull life. He lent me material when I wrote a M.S. thesis about Jack London. H. Spink eventually managed to attend a Jack London banquet after canceling several reservations. As for my first encounter with the Kingmans, I hitchhiked to the shop, meant to spend two minutes, and ended up staying the whole day.
--Claude Chapuis
I first met Winnie on the telephone in 1984. I had just begun teaching The Call of the Wild and was scrambling around in search of materials about London and the book. I looked at our library's copy of Russ's bio but learned it was out of print. On the flyleaf, however, was the info that the Kingmans operated the bookstore, so I called, spoke to Winnie, and she offered to send the book right away--with Russ's inscription ("For Daniel Dyer, I hope that you will enjoy mushing down the Jack London trail with me in these pages. Sincerely, Russ Kingman, August 15, 1984, Glen Ellen, CA."). Send money later, she said. This has been the astonishing thing about my relationship with the Kingmans: They send things to me and permit me to pay when and with how much I can. I don't know how much business sense this makes, but it certainly has made my life as a researcher and collector a lot more pleasant.
I believe it was in 1987 that I first met them personally. I was visiting the Ranch and stopped in the store (dropping $100s as if they were Monopoly money), dodged the chicken [Brewster], and made two new friends.
--Daniel Dyer
I first wrote to Russ through his publisher to compliment him on his excellent Pictorial Life of Jack London shortly after it appeared in 1979. We corresponded regularly after that, and finally met in his bookstore in 1985 when I went to San Francisco to attend a mystery writers' convention.
--Loren D. Estleman
Our first meeting came about in 1969 because of a mutual interest in Jack London. When Russ was recommended as a top scholar in the London field, he was advertising with an office just off Jack London Square in Oakland. I'd become fascinated with London and wanted his guidance to do an article using Irving Stone's biography of Jack London as a reference.
--Andy Flink
In 1983 when I was at U.C. Berkeley as a post-doctoral scholar and on a research leave from Seinan Gakuin University, Fukuoka City, Japan, my family and I visited Jack London State Park. On the way back we stopped by the Jack London Bookstore around 5:30 p.m. I saw a lady come out of the store, calling the name of a cat. We went into the store, but the store was unattended.
One of our friends in San Francisco, Ms. Marie Kuriyama, asked me if I was interested in helping Mr. Russ Kingman who was studying a Jack London story which was related to Japan. I had been trying to select a literary figure to conduct research on. Marie worked with Rudy Ciuca at the Veterans Hospital. Marie took me to the Jack London Bookstore to see Russ. I saw the lady whom I saw two or three weeks before attending the store. Russ was sitting in the back of the store, behind many papers spread on his desk. With the interruption of a few incoming telephone calls, Russ told me about Jack London's involvement with Japan. This was the beginning of my involvement with Eyes of Asia or "Cherry."
--Haruo Furukawa
About twelve years ago [1984] when visiting Glen Ellen, I was made aware of the J.L. Bookstore and introduced to Russ Kingman. After identifying myself as a Washington [D.C.] firefighter and Russ telling me about his being a firefighter, we became fast friends. There is a special close bond that exists between all firefighters around the world.
--William J. Kelly
I believe I met Russ and Winnie for the first time at their original "The World of Jack London Bookstore," across Arnold Drive, in the Jack London Village. Then on May 6, 1974, I found that store empty. They had moved across the road. They had given up their employment in Oakland and were living in the three-room house beside the bookstore right on the creek.
--Jacqueline Koenig
Russ had gone into the Navy when I was approximately 4 years old. Therefore I had infrequent contact with Russ until I was 14. He returned from Guam in 1948 and came to Vermont to pick up our Mother and me and took us to California to live with him and Winnie. After a few months in California, he was transferred to Pensacola, Florida, and took us with him. It was during this period that I grew to know him as a brother and to some degree he became somewhat of a father figure. I gained a tremendous amount of admiration for both Russ and Winnie. It was then many years before I would have any degree of contact with them.
In 1969 I saw them for three days at their home in California while on my way to the Philippines. I only saw Russ and Winnie a few times between 1969 and 1993. However, each visit caused me to gain even more respect for them.
--Darwin J. (Jon) Kingman, brother
I met Russ in 1985 when I was attending a conference in Berkeley. Russ and I were good friends, and I appreciated his matchless knowledge about Jack London which I called upon often in publications I put out about London (e.g. my chapter on "Social Darwinism" in Darwin's Laboratory, ed. Roy MacLeod and Philip E. Rehbock, University of Hawaii Press, 1994).
--John Laurent
I first met Russ and Winnie on August 2, 1992, when I went to Sonoma for the first Jack London Society Symposium. I spent the evening before the Symposium in Russ's office just listening to his stories and meeting the people who walked in to get his signature on A Pictorial Life. The next morning was a Sunday. I went to visit Jack London State Park for the first time, first thing in the morning, and then I spent the rest of the day at the bookstore talking to Russ. Winnie was pretty busy in the bookstore. While I was there Russ said, "You should meet Hensley Woodbridge. Meeting him will make your whole trip out here worthwhile." And Russ was right!
--Susan Nuernberg
In 1986 and 1987, I was looking for references about Jack London and his work, and I wrote to libraries in California. I was referred to Russ Kingman. We started writing each other. This must have gone on for two years before I actually met the Kingmans and Becky London. I wanted to buy some books from his bookstore, but he would not let me pay.
--Noël Mauberret
In 1988, I was editing a Jack London Reading Book with thirteen tales which I translated anew [into German], and while hunting for an original London text through German and American libraries, including the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia, I was given a hint by Macmillan Publishing Company to continue my search at one Mr. Shepard in Glen Ellen. Russ Kingman, thereupon, produced the text I needed--just in time for the deadline--and a lively and jocose correspondence ensued, in the course of which a very friendly relationship developed.
In 1992, my wife and I made an excursion to California, and innocently driving through the countryside, I suddenly caught a glimpse of a road sign, "Glen Ellen." I had not known where Russ lived. We made a little detour, and so I met Winnie and Russ. Unfortunately, he had just had a hip operation, only days before, and was very handicapped in his movements--and in his well-being as a whole. My wife is allergic to cats and had to stay apart a little bit. So our visit was somewhat inopportune, limited to seeing each other, drinking a bottle of wine we had brought, and after an hour or so we departed. We both deplored the circumstances, and I had one more letter from him, and my next letter could no longer reach his mind.
--Fred Schmitz
I first met Russ and Winnie Kingman at the Jack London Bookstore in early December 1985. The meeting came about because the man I was with, Gareth Hamlin, was an ardent Jack London fan and first edition collector. The only thing I knew about Jack London was that he had written The Call of the Wild.
Gary had first contacted Russ in 1970 when he was attempting to find copies of The Acorn Planter and The Human Drift in first edition to add his collection of London's works. Russ was associated with the Jack London Square in Oakland at that time. In a letter dated June 20, 2024 (a copy of which I have sent to Susan for the book), Russ says, "My office is being used as a clearing house for collectors. I have over 500 London books, over 200 old magazines from 1899 with London stories, and many other items. My office is more Jack London museum than office." Russ and Gary kept up a correspondence over the years and Gary subsequently purchased several additional first editions from him.
When Gary and I entered the bookstore, he immediately headed for Russ's office in the back of the store. I hardly had time to do more than glance quickly around, notice the woman behind the counter and the rustic charm of the bookstore interior, before Gary and Russ were greeting each other as old friends and I was introduced. I don't recall much of that conversation because I was not familiar with the titles of the books they were discussing or the names of the people they were talking about, such as Charmian, Flora, Bessie, Joan and Becky.
What stands out in my mind on this visit, and others later, was Russ's friendly, relaxed manner, his directness softened with humor and affability, and his ability and willingness to answer any question--no matter how trivial or obscure--about Jack London. Occasionally he would turn to consult one of the thousands of 3 x 5 cards in the files behind his desk. Winnie came into the room during the course of the conversation, introductions were made, and we chatted for a few minutes before she was called back to the counter to assist customers. My first impression of Winnie was that she was cordial, pleasant, efficient, conservative and reserved.
Before long one of the bookstore cats wandered in looking for a bit of attention and a new place to nap. I was caught totally by surprise, however, when a large handsome and colorful rooster sauntered in--looking as though he owned the place--pecked around a bit and, not finding anything edible, ruffled his feathers and marched out. That was my introduction to Brewster, the first and only rooster, to my knowledge, to crow about a bookstore.
I looked around. The walls of Russ's office were covered with rows and rows of books by and about Jack London and his contemporaries, as well as paintings, posters, and photographs. Books and boxes of books and magazines were piled about everywhere; small tables were covered with more books and assorted memorabilia. There was an old typewriter and battered trunk and other items which, Russ informed us, had once belonged to Jack London, and a model of his yacht, The Snark. Russ invited us to attend the Jack London banquet to be held in a month later, in January 1986 but, due to our work commitments, we were unable to be there.
Gary and I were married in June of 1986 and, while on our wedding trip to northern California, we stopped to visit with Russ and Winnie. As it turned out, Gary and I were never meant to attend a Jack London banquet together; he became ill and passed away one year later, in June 1987. Among other things, I inherited Gary's first edition collection of Jack London's works, his collection of letters from Russ, Sal Noto, George Tweney, Dale Walker and other collectors, fans and book dealers, as well as an assortment of association materials. The first edition collection was incomplete, but I did not have the interest or heart to pursue it further at that time.
My interest in Jack London was rekindled in January 1989 when Rod Sharpe, whom I was to marry later that year, and I were traveling in the area and stopped at the bookstore. Although it was unplanned, we happened to be in Russ's office the day of the banquet and Winnie just happened to have two cancellations, so we were able to attend; a remarkable and fortuitous coincidence!
It was on this visit that I first met Becky London, whose apartment was adjacent to the bookstore. Russ and Winnie had met Becky many years earlier and the three of them had become close friends. Concerned about her safety living alone in Oakland, they had generously offered to have the apartment built for Becky and to look after her. A cheerful, good natured person, Becky happily spent the rest of her life among her Daddy's books, sharing her childhood memories with anyone who wanted to meet her, the only living member of Jack London's immediate family.
I later arranged with Russ to conduct a series of oral history interviews with Becky. Rod and I made several trips to Glen Ellen during the ensuing months to photograph and talk with Becky. During these visits I got to know Russ and Winnie better and to appreciate their kind and generous natures. I also managed to complete the first edition collection of London's works on these and subsequent trips, and to add to my knowledge about his personal life.
As everyone knows who ever met Russ, he was a people person. It was probably a combination of his easy going manner, gregarious personality and training as a Baptist minister that drew people to him. He counseled many individuals through the years, and he and Winnie "adopted" those who needed a helping hand. Russ and Winnie were also devoted to animals. In addition to Brewster and a variety of cats, they also fed several generations of raccoons, who were spoiled by an assortment of goodies not found in the wild.
I seriously doubt if Russ realized, the first time he picked up a reprint of one of Jack London's books in the Jack London Square, that his life had taken a sudden turn. He literally held his future in his hands. And, after reading that book and others after it, his interest grew until it could no longer be confined to the limitations of the Square. He and Winnie gambled everything they had on the success of the World of Jack London Bookstore . . . and made it work. It took love, faith, courage, patience and commitment, traits both of them had in common. They were partners in marriage and business and acted as one; their strengths were different and complementary, but they worked together well as a team. Together they brought new life and meaning to the name of Jack London in his home town, the state of California, and the country at large.
Although some of Jack London's best known works have never been out of print in the U.S., he has always been better known and accepted internationally. Russ and Winnie brought these many and diverse people together for the first time when they organized and held the first Jack London banquet in 1971. It is a tradition which has endured for 25 [now 27] years.
Winnie was always a visible and vital support for Russ, but was content to work, for the most part, quietly and behind the scenes. She was the organizer who took care of the details for the banquets and meetings; she kept the bookstore humming along smoothly while Russ made contacts, performed research, wrote books, conducted interviews and became the recognized world-renowned expert on Jack London.
Russ's death in December 1993 was a shock to all who knew him, especially Winnie, his devoted wife of over 50 years. Her way of dealing with the blow was to keep busy and keep up the tradition. After recovering somewhat from Russ's death and subsequent hip surgery, Winnie's strength of purpose and knowledge about Jack London has become a source of both surprise and amazement to all who know her. She not only continues to operate the bookstore, but to answer the many questions that are asked daily about Jack London. In short, she has assumed Russ's mantle as well as her own. As a result, her days are a whirlwind of activity, which begin each morning with opening the mail and the store, and includes helping patrons, answering phone calls, researching questions, filling orders, keeping the ledgers current, helping researchers locate materials in the Jack London Research Center (formerly Becky's apartment), and ends only after she feeds the bookstore cats and locks the door for the night . . . six days a week. I know this only because I spent 10 days at the JLRC last July and was able to observe her routine at first hand.
I do not know what the future holds for the Jack London Foundation or the World of Jack London Bookstore. I can only hope the board members will give this matter very serious consideration in the near future--if they haven't already--so that Winnie can be relieved of some of the dual workload she is carrying. She is not a young woman and she needs assistance, even if she is reluctant to admit it. It is a great concern of a number of us that the many years both Russ and Winnie have devoted to breathing life into Jack London will not be in vain when she is no longer physically able to be at the helm. Plans and commitments to the future must be made now if we are to keep the torch alive and burning.
--JoAnne Sharpe
I started studying Jack London and his words in earnest in 1972 and wrote to the City of Oakland. They kindly introduced me to the three local students of Jack London: the late James E. Sisson, Russ Kingman, and Frances Buxton, then senior librarian of Oakland Public Library. Since that time we had communicated with each other. It was in 1978 when I first visited the Kingmans in Glen Ellen together with the Buxtons. Russ kindly took us to the Wolf House.
--Eiji Tsujii
We began research on Jack London's yacht, the Snark, May 6, 1983, at the request of a London fan. The commission was to build a model of the Snark. Our search for information took us to the Jack London State Park. The Park Ranger directed us to the Jack London Bookstore in Glen Ellen, California, and mentioned Russ Kingman could help us.
We stopped by the quaint and interesting store and entered a peaceful, homey atmosphere, almost a "general store" of the past; only books, not food, surrounded us. There was a customer or two mingling about. We asked the lady behind the counter if Russ Kingman was there. She pointed to him in his back room office with two or three other people busily engaged in what looked like a very lengthy conversation. We waited a short while and purchased a postcard of the Snark and left as we had a long drive back to Southern California. Our impression was--"Busy Place." Winnie was nice and Russ looked extremely involved with the people in his office.
We decided to write Russ a letter with a lot of pictures of our Snark model after six months of construction and asked what he could supply in the way of details on the Snark. Well, Russ responded immediately and very enthusiastically! He was completely amazed and asked, "Where did you find so much detail to build a model of the Snark?" Russ was obviously impressed.
Little did we know that he was "The Snark Hunter" according to his birth date of August 8, 1917, printed in The Revised Cynics' Calendar of that same year. [By Ethel Watts Mumford, published by O. Herford and A. Mizner, 1917]
Equally, little did Russ know about us that we were stamped and ingrained with the same London Snark markings that were engraved on Russ Kingman.
We were Snark soul mates!! Our business, professional, and personal relationship with Russ and Winnie were, are, will always be--the Snark of Jack London, as described in the book I wrote, Jack London's Snark, San Francisco. Russ wrote the introduction and Becky London wrote the synopsis about her father just prior to losing her eyesight (Book printed March 1996).
--Warren and Toby Watson
