Patrick Michael Quinn was born August 22, 1942 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He attended local public schools from 1947 to 1960. After beginning college at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1960, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1962, where he received his B.S. in English two years later. From 1964 to 1967 Quinn attended graduate school at the UW in Madison. During this period he also taught high school in Racine and worked as a research assistant at the University.
Since September 1966 Quinn has worked as an archivist. He was employed by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin from 1966 through 1971, and the next year he became assistant university archivist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1974 he took an archival position at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
During the years that Quinn lived in Madison he was involved in labor union activities, as well as with many anti-Vietnam war and leftist organizations. He was chairman of the Madison Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1968), and later worked extensively with Madison Labor Against the War, Madison Area Peace Action Council, and other organizations. Quinn was also extremely active in his union, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), serving as steward of Local #171 and working in the United Action Caucus.
