at UC Berkeley. During World War II, he was part of a program to teach US Army soldiers to speak Mandarin Chinese at Berkeley.

Shipley began studying the Mountain Maidu language in 1953 with Maym Benner Gallagher, a Maidu elder. He continued to work with Kenneth Holbrook to continue to document and record the Maidu language. Their collaboration led to a book of Maidu texts and dictionary. as well as a grammar