Manuscripts Collection
Gerald James O'Donnell was born November 24, 1898, the fifth of eight children born to Pat and Ellen O'Donnell. O'Donnell lived his entire life in St. Paul, Minnesota, growing up in a home located at 373 Harrison Avenue (now torn down to make way for Interstate 35E) and residing most of his adult life at 1875 Worcester Avenue. O'Donnell attended the Cretin School through the eighth grade and worked several years as a clerk and a driver before beginning his career in steamfitting. In 1917 he met his future wife, Evelyn Simon, on the corner of St. Clair and West Seventh. The couple were married in 1921 and later had two daughters, Lois and Geraldine.
O'Donnell's lifelong association with the labor movement began in 1918 when he started an apprenticeship in the steamfitting-pipefitting trade through the United Association local No. 455, AFL. He became a journeyman in 1925. With the exception of a few years during the depression when he didn't have enough money to pay dues, O'Donnell was an active member of the Steamfitters Local 455 for the next sixty years of his life, serving as vice chairman, chairman, on the executive board, and as business manager for thirty years. One of his proudest achievements was the institution of an apprenticeship program in Local 455, the first such training program for young pipefitters in the area.
In addition to his work for the local, he served in many offices in the labor movement at the state and national level, including twenty years as vice president of the Minnesota State Federation of Labor and eighteen years on the United Association Industrial Relations Council for the plumbing and pipefitting industry (he was elected vice chairman of the council in 1961). He was a member of numerous union trades councils and served as president of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly central body for nine years and as president of the Minnesota Pipe Trades Association for twenty years. In later years, he founded the retiree's chapter of Local 455 and was chairman of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly's retirees' chapter. In the words of his daughter, Geraldine O'Donnell O'Keefe, "his overriding love was for the union -- the union -- the union. He ate union and slept union and breathed union. He had it in his blood."
O'Donnell was active in St. Paul civic affairs and in the DFL party. He was chairman of the 4th District DFL for six years and served on the state central and Democratic National committees as well as various campaign committees.
Gerald O'Donnell died on November 22nd, 1985, just days before his eighty-seventh birthday. He was preceded in death by his wife Evelyn, who passed away in 1958.
Biographical information was taken from published obituaries and materials in the collection.
Biographical information, personal and union correspondence, subject files, desk diaries, and photographs documenting O'Donnell's career as a Minnesota labor and DFL Party leader.
The papers document his career in organized labor as a member (1918- ) and business agent (1937-1966) of St. Paul Local 455 of the Steam Pipe Fitters union, chairman of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly (1940-1949), president of the Minnesota State Pipe Trades Association, member of the Industrial Relations Council for the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Trades, and vice president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO. They document his work on behalf of many St. Paul civic organizations, including the Community Chest, and as an active member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, including his chairmanship of the Ramsey County-Fourth District DFL organization (1950s), his service on the state central committee and various campaign committees, and his participation in Democratic National Committee programs.
These documents are organized into the following sections:
Accession numbers: 14,494; 15,597; 15,683
Processed by: Katherine Johnson, January 1991; Lara Friedman-Shedlov, May 2001
Catalog ID number: 09-00022185
Photographs depict O'Donnell's activities in civic events, the Industrial Relations Council, the Minnesota State Pipe Trades Association, and the United Association of Journeymen Plumbers and Steam Fitters.
Desk diaries illustrate O'Donnell's daily activities and contacts.
Desk diaries illustrate O'Donnell's daily activities and contacts.
Subject files detail O'Donnell's varied activities (especially in the DFL and the state pipe trades association) and contain correspondence, minutes, printed materials, convention data, and legislative files, as well as agreements and contracts for the Minnesota State Pipe Trades Association. Files on the wartime civic activities (1941-1951) of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly contain information on civilian defense programs, war bond drives, and other U.S. government civilian activities during World War II.
Includes some Farmer-Labor and Democratic National Committee materials.
Includes convention materials.
A primarily chronological series of papers covering the period 1921 to 1985 contains correspondence, news clippings, photographs, membership cards, memorabilia, and other materials compiled by O'Donnell's daughter, Geraldine O'Donnell O'Keefe, in nine volumes. In some cases O'Keefe has provided explanations, interpretations, and other contextual information about the materials she compiled. Correspondence from certain particularly prominent individuals, mostly related to O'Donnell's work with the DFL party, are in separate notebooks and are displayed with news clippings providing additional background on that correspondent.
Note that in some cases additional related material may be found in the other portions of the collection.
Includes obituaries and the program and address from O'Donnell's funeral on November 25th, 1985.