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This series includes records collected and created by Helen Quirini that document her involvement in numerous issues and community organizations. The material in this series is divided into eight subseries and includes meeting minutes, agendas, financial information, news clippings, reports, correspondence, newsletters and other publications, notes, pamphlets, brochures, conference materials, fact sheets and photographs.

This series contains both labor union and General Electric newspapers collected by Helen Quirini while employed at General Electric and during her retirement. The newspapers include publications of other local unions, regional groups and national organizations. Newspaper clippings about or mentioning Quirini as well as articles discussing key topics like the IUE/UE split, strikes and McCarthyism may be found in Series 2. Clippings about pension rights and retiree demonstrations may be found in Series 5.

This series contains a wide variety of materials pertaining to General Electric, especially its operations in Schenectady where Helen Quirini worked from 1941 until 1980. There are files related to GE's corporate and administrative operations, such as annual reports and benefits information, materials illustrating Quirini's participation in the GE Athletic Association and her work with the Share Fund, and a scrapbook created by Quirini of the history of GE in Schenectady. Of interest to researchers may be files addressing work at GE during World War II, materials from the GE Apprentice Alumni Association and publications issued by GE.

This series documents Helen Quirini's extensive union activities through her membership in Local 301. When Quirini joined this local it was affiliated with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE). During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the federal government kept UE leadership and its members under surveillance because of suspected Communist ties. In his aggressive investigations of accused Communists, Senator Joseph McCarthy, chairman of the Committee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, subpoenaed Quirini and she was one of many members of the UE to testify in a pre-hearing before Congress in February 1954. She swore under oath that she was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. Citing these supposed Communist connections, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) expelled the UE in 1949 and replaced it with the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (IUE). During subsequent years many UE locals elected to join the IUE, including Local 301 in June 1954. This series features materials related to all of the aforementioned events, including Quirini's subpoena, anti-McCarthy literature issued by unions, Quirini's surveillance files and a significant amount of propaganda from both unions issued before Local 301's vote to join the IUE.