The papers have been arranged in five categories: Labor Activities, Anti-War Activities, materials regarding Other Organizations, Miscellany, and Interviews. Items in the Labor Activities category pertain to union and related labor activities with which Quinn was involved. The American Federation of Teachers/Wisconsin Federation of Teachers and Wisconsin State Employees Union, Local #171 records include constitutions, correspondence, memos, leaflets, and agenda of meetings. There are also printed material and notes from the 1973 WSEU state convention, to which Quinn was an alternate delegate. The General Electric and Teaching Assistants Association strikes of 1970 are documented by correspondence, leaflets, and clippings. The file on the United Caucus of Local #171 contains material concerning a WSEU contract, and Quinn's notes and drafts for leaflets and articles distributed by the Caucus.
The Anti-War Activities group contains Quinn's files on the Madison Area Peace Action Council, of which he was a founding member. Duplicate copies of some of the items concerning MAPAC activities and events have been integrated into the Council's records (Mss 195). The records in Quinn's collection document those activities in which he was involved, such as the April 18th (1970) march, which he organized. Included are correspondence, notes, and drafts of leaflets and press releases written by Quinn. The papers concerning the Madison Committee to End the War in Vietnam date from 1968, the year that Quinn served as chairperson. The file consists of correspondence, drafts of Quinn's articles and notes regarding the internal operations of the Committee.
The records of Other organizations primarily consist of printed leaflets and notes regarding a number of anti-war and other social activist groups.
Taped Interviews with Quinn, conducted on May 29 and 31, 1974 by Michael Kohl and Sarah Cooper, give little additional substantive information. Rather, they provide Quinn's assessment of the roots and growth of the anti-war movement, primarily in Madison. There is also a typewritten abstract of highlights of the interviews.
