Henry Shelton and George Wiley Center records (Ms.2017.004)

The Henry Shelton and George Wiley Center records comprise correspondence, agendas, meeting minutes, publications, newspaper clippings, and press releases that cover all aspects of Henry Shelton's community organizing work both independently and through the George Wiley Center. The materials date from 1968-2009. The content reflects the mission of Shelton and the George Wiley Center to empower people to create social and economic justice through changes in public policy. The focus of the work has been the following issues affecting low-income populations: utility access and affordability, fair housing, labor unions, childhood poverty, and preventing hunger. They have worked on these goals through several major programs including the Rhode Island Campaign to Eliminate Childhood Poverty, Rhode Island Parents for Progress, and the Fund for Community Progress. These materials also reflect the work of Shelton to lobby and partner with the Rhode Island Governor’s office, Representatives and Senators at the state and federal levels, and community groups of all types.

The papers are organized into the following four series:

Series 1. Henry Shelton's folders. These folders were organized and named by Henry Shelton. The staff at Brown University did not alter them nor integrate them with other materials within the collection in order to preserve the way Shelton had arranged them. The people and topics represented in this series may have additional information in the other series also.

Series 2. People. This series contains information collected by Henry Shelton about various politicians, community organizers, and news reporters. The files contain a few items of correspondence to or from the individual. But, the majority of each file is information Shelton gathered about the invidual in the form of newspaper clippings, articles and opinion pieces that Shelton wrote.

Series 3. Organizations. This series contains information collecty by Henry Shelton about a wide range of organizations that were important to the work of the George Wiley Center. The files contain information produced by the organization such as memos, flyers, brochures and newsletters. It also includes administrative documents for organizations in which Shelton was directly involved.

Series 4. Topics. This series contains folders on general topics of interest to Henry Shelton and the George Wiley Center. These contain primarily newspaper and magazine articles or other published sources of information on the topic.