The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera pertaining to the life and work of California writer and labor activist Joan London (1901-1971), the eldest daughter of author Jack London (1876-1916). Since much of London's work focused on her father, many items in the collection specifically relate to the life and writings of Jack London, in additional to materials about Joan London and on the labor movement in California.

Joan London (1901-1971), born in Oakland, California, on January 15, 1901, was the elder daughter of the author Jack London (1876-1916) and his first wife, Elizabeth (Bess) London. Following graduation from Oakland High School, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1921. On February 11 of that same year, in Piedmont, California, Joan London married Harlan Park Abbott, from whom she was divorced in 1924. On December 20, 1925, in Sacramento, she married Charles Malamuth, a Moscow correspondent for United Press International, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. Subsequently, the two were reconciled while in Moscow and they remarried, but they were separated in 1934 and divorced for the second time in 1935. Finally, Joan London married Charles Lortz Miller in April, 1952, and they resided in Berkeley and, later, Pleasant Hill, California, until Miller's death in August 1970.

1,576 pieces, with clippings and other printed items, in 41 boxes

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