Charles and Annette O'Flaherty Papers

Annette Doyle O'Flaherty was born in New York City. She graduated from Columbia High School in 1936 and from Mount Holyoke College with a B.A. with honors in Economics in 1940. In July of 1940, she went to work on the editorial staff of Springfield Newspapers until the papers stopped publication because of a strike in September 1946. While working for Springfield Newspapers, Annette served as executive secretary of the Springfield Newspaper Guild, Local 28 until October 1947. At that time she became the National Coordinator for the United Nations Appeal for Children and American Overseas Aid until the organization dissolved in June 1948. Annette returned to Springfield where she became secretary and campaign manager for a joint AFL-CIO political committee organized for the 1948 political election year. The committee was successful in defeating three anti-labor referenda and helped to elect a Congressman.

Annette also served as secretary of the Western Massachusetts CIO Council for four years and was assistant director of the Union Counseling Program. She became the state president of the CIO Women's League of New Jersey in the 1950s after settling in Newark, New Jersey with her husband Charles.

Charles (Charlie) O'Flaherty was born in South Boston and graduated from Norwood, MA High School in 1924. He was the oldest of three brothers, all of whom eventually volunteered for service in the Spanish Civil War (using the original version of their family name, Flaherty). He attended Colby College on scholarship but quit after two years to help support his family. He became interested in the labor movement and socialism while in college and was influenced by the hunger marchers he saw on Boston Common. His first job was working as a purchasing manager for Barnes and Noble. In the early 1930's, Charles worked for the Cambridge Rubber Company in Cambridge Massachusetts.

In 1936, Charles went to Spain and was a leader of the Irish Section of the International Brigades. He was wounded on the Jarama Front, where he served with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade infantry. Charles was sent home in 1937 as a result of severe injuries to his arm. He went on a nation-wide tour with his brother Frank, who was also wounded in Spain, to raise funds for the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

The youngest Flaherty brother, Edward, was an infantry commander at Jarama. He was an auto mechanic who served in World War II with an Army transportation unit in Germany. Following his return from the war, he settled in Paterson, New Jersey. Edward (Eddie) died on July 13, 1978.

In 1940 Charles accepted a job organizing for the United Electric Workers (UE). He was an early member of the Marine Workers Industrial Union and was a delegate to the National Maritime Union (NMU) convention in 1945. Charles left for sea again at the beginning of World War II and spent the war on the Murmansk Run as a member of the NMU.

Charles O'Flaherty married Annette Doyle in November 1948 and settled in Newark, N.J.; they had two sons, Sean and Brendan. Charles worked for the Worthington Pump Co. and served as president of Local 55 of the International Brotherhood of Firemen, Oilers, and Maintenance Mechanics, AFL-CIO. The O'Flahertys remained active in the anti-war, anti-nuclear, feminist and other progressive political movements. Charles O'Flaherty died on June 28, 1984, and Annette in 2000.