The Janet Attlee Shipton papers date from 1936 to 1991 and measure 3 linear feet. The papers are arranged in three series: Biographical, Political, and Business.

The Biographical series contains many letters to Shipton at boarding school and college, and while a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during World War II. Upon her move to the United States Shipton maintained an active correspondence with many people in England, both family and friends. Shipton corresponded extensively with her long-time friend, Joan O'Donovan, a British poet and novelist. Included are two letters from her father, Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1945 to 1951. There is correspondence and other material regarding Shipton's daughters, Ann Shipton and Susan Collins, as they matriculated through public school and college and then into marriage and family.

The Political series concerns Shipton's activity in the political arena, beginning with her volunteer work with the Hoover Health Council and the Johnson County Health Council and her elected position on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. The collection contains complete minutes and assorted correspondence of the Board of Supervisors for 1979-1980, papers and programs from the League of Women Voters, the Iowa 2000 Project, the Missouri Women's Network, and the Older Women's League.

The Business series reveals Shipton's business involvement. She built a fourplex in West Branch, Iowa, which she rented only to low-income people. In Missouri she invested in and managed the ABC Condominiums.

The Artifacts are two handbags dating from the early 1940s.