Irving Jay Fain was born in Providence, Rhode Island to immigrants Alfred and Elizabeth (Stoneman) in 1906. In 1923, he graduated from Classical High School and in 1927 from Harvard University. In 1936, Fain married Evelyn Macie. He served in the United States Army as a quartermaster officer in England, North Africa, and Italy from 1942-1945, and ultimately attained the rank of captain. Fain worked in his family business, which included Thompson Chemical, Tower Iron Works, Apex Inc., Apex Tire and Rubber, and Dighton Industries. He helped found and was the first chairman and chief lobbyist of Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law in 1958. In 1959, he led three discussions of the proposed Fair Housing Law in Rhode Island on WJAR radio’s World Affairs Program, where he stressed the moral and ethical values of residential desegregation. Fain campaigned vigorously for a Fair Housing Law until its passing in 1965. He served as president of the Temple Beth-El and the Urban League of Rhode Island, and became chairman of the Social Action Committee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Fain was also heavily influenced by the civil rights movement in the south and donated $50,000 to the Mississippi Bail Fund to help release arrested civil rights protestors. Additionally, he grew passionate about nutrition in schools and helped to found the Rhode Island Nutrition Council.
Fain received a Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christian and Jews in 1963, and in 1965 he helped to organize a student exchange program between Brown University and Tougaloo College. He also received honorary doctorates from Brown and Tougaloo. Fain died in Boston, Massachusetts in August of 1970.
The collection largely reflects Fain’s interests in his civic activities. The collection primarily contains records relating to the Fair Housing Law in Rhode Island and the group he founded, Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law, as well as his studies on nutrition. The collection also includes tape recordings of his radio discussion on fair housing, as well as newspaper and journal articles relating to fair housing, urban development, and civil rights.
Rhode Island College Special Collections holds copyright to materials in this collection created by Irving Jay Fain. The collection contains materials not created by Fain, which may be under copyright restrictions. Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights to all materials in this collection. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Irving Jay Fain papers, MSS-0003, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
The collection has been arranged into the following series:
The collection was donated in 1975 by Evelyn Macie Fain, Irving Jay Fain’s widow, and a deed of gift was signed at that time. She made an addition to the collection in 1990.
The collection was arranged and described by Michael Kohl, assistant librarian at Rhode Island College Special Collection, in 1975. The collection was reboxed, the 1990 addition added, and the finding aid updated to current archival standards by Veronica L. Denison, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, in 2022.
Works used in preparation of inventory:
Conforti, Joseph. “Irving Fain and the Fair Housing Movement in Rhode Island, 1958-1970.” Rhode Island History 45, no. 1 (February 1986): 22–35.
Nathan Gerson, Joan. “Rhode Island Lost a Great Citizen--Irving Fain.” Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes 8, no. 3 (November 1981): 373–80.
Publications were removed from the collection in 1975 and added to the Rhode Island College Adams Library General Collections, as well as the Rhode Island College Special Collections Book Collections, College Archives, and the Social and Political Materials collection. Additional state and federal governmental publications were removed from the collection in 2022.
Select items have been digitized and are available on
This series contains records relating to the Fair Housing Law and Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law in Rhode Island, Citizens United, Inc., and urban development. Items in this series include budgetary information, minutes and agenda of various organizations, reports, news clippings, and tape recordings.
This series contains tape recordings regarding discussions of the Rhode Island Fair Housing Bill during 1959-1960. They consist of three WJAR World Affairs Programs; a WEAN radio broadcast of extracts from the first Rhode Island House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Hearing on the bill; a debate concerning fair housing that was televised by WPRO-TV; a WEAN radio interview with Mrs. Rossella Switzer, Regional Director of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, during which discrimination and fair housing is discussed; and a partial recording of a WPRO-TV program on the Fair Housing Bill.
Side 1: Panel discussion of civil rights for Black people in Providence and the proposed Fair Housing Law. Participants are: Marjorie Vinal, commentator; Irving Jay Fain, chairman of Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law; Shirley Lee, chairman of Rhode Island Committee on Discrimination in Housing; and Andrew J. Bell, past-president of the Rhode Island Urban League. Side 2: Blank.
Side 1: Panel discussion of housing discrimination and the proposed Fair Housing Law in Rhode Island. Participants are: Marjorie Vinal, commentator; Irving Jay Fain, chairman of Citizens United for a Fair Housing law, Edward N. Gronneberg, president of the Providence Board of Realtors; and Edward A. White, president of the Roger Williams Savings and Loan Association. Side 2: Blank.
Side 1: Panel discussion of the proposed Fair Housing Law. Participants are: Marjorie Vinal, commentator; Irving Jay Fain, chairman of Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law; John H. Chafee, Republican Leader in the Rhode Island House of Representatives (R-Warwick); and John F. Doris, Deputy-Democratic Leader in the Rhode Island House of Representatives (D-Woonsocket). Side 2: Blank.
Side 1: The radio commentator is Harry McKenna; the speakers are: James Williams, executive director of the Urban League of Rhode Island; William H. Edwards, member of Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law; Rabbi Abraham Chill, president of the Rabbinical Association of Rhode Island; and the Reverend Edward Flannery, Editor of The Providence Visitor. Side 2: Blank.
Side 1: The moderator is Milton Stanzler; speaking in favor of the bill are Melvin L. Zarier and Edward F. Burke; and speaking against the bill are Edward Gnyes, Jr. and John Mutter. Side 2: Blank.
Side 1: Harry McKenna of WEAN radio interviews Mrs. Rossella Switzer, Regional Director of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Discrimination in Rhode Island, the Fair Housing Bill, and Brotherhood Week are discussed. Side 2: Blank.
Recording begins after the program has already started. The news program focuses on the proposed Fair Housing law. Mort Blender of WPRO-TV interviews: Milton Stanzler, executive director of the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; Dennis Lynch, chairman of the Committee on Housing Legislation of the Rhode Island Real Estate Boards; William H. Edwards, member of Citizens Side 1: United for a Fair Housing law; and Annetta Miller, member of the Greater Providence Women's Conference on Intergroup Relations. Side 2: Blank.
This series pertains to studies Fain undertook relating to nutrition in 1970. Subjects pertain to food fortification, fish protein, and the school lunch program.
This series contains reports, research materials, and items related to nutrition, urban development, and fair housing.
This series contains newspaper clippings and journal articles relating to the civil rights movement, housing, and nutrition.
This series contains political cartoons that were given to Fain by John Fawcett.