Scott Molloy’s labor history archive draws a crowd
Opening the doors of the Robert L. Carothers Library and
Learning Commons to community guests on a recent fall afternoon gave Molloy and
other URI community members the chance to discuss a historic
labor history archive — largely from his contributions — housed at the
library.
The noted historian held court in the Galanti Lounge at the
library on Nov. 13, regaling colleagues and friends from across the state with
memories and anecdotes of what it took to build the unique archive of artifacts
of working people’s lives in Rhode Island. Attendees filled the room, and then
some, with chairs added for guests from labor shops, the secretary of state’s
office, and the state’s Irish-American community.
The premiere historian of Rhode Island’s labor history,
Molloy donated most of his own collection, which contains thousands of
documents and resources pertaining to Rhode Island’s labor union and public
transportation history, to URI.
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| EDITOR'S NOTE: Scott is an old friend and Cathy and me. That's him, second from the right with the smile and mustache, posing with former RI Attorney General Julius Michaelson. That's how he looked when I first met him over 50 years ago. - Will Collette |
Karen Walton Morse, director of the University Libraries’ archival repository, University Archives and Special Collections, said, “We cannot thank Dr. Molloy enough for the work he has done over the years to draw attention to our repository and facilitate collection donations from people and organizations within his network. We are in his debt.”
Molloy’s labor history and transit archive built itself
piece by piece over several years; he donated much of his collection of
historic labor union materials to the library in 2009.
Part of Molloy’s goal in donating his collections was not
only to create space in his groaning second-floor study at his West Kingston
home, but also to put the materials in the hands of the general public at the
state’s flagship research university.
The collection includes photos of Providence public transport past.
A unique set of collections in state history, their
significance was not lost on attendees at the event, from the state keeper of
archival records, Secretary of State Gregg Amore, and fellow historians to
labor leaders and friends from his old neighborhood and local social justice
organizations.
“It’s important for people to know the history of labor and
its organizations in the state,” said William Flynn of the Senior Agenda
Coalition of Rhode Island.
URI Archivist Mark Dionne worked with Molloy to bring the
collections to URI and says that it was a unique process to bring everything to
campus. Over the years, the archive expanded to a dozen collections in total,
as people entrusted their family’s objects and stories to Molloy.
A former bus driver and head of the Rhode Island transit
union, Molloy (right, holding pamphlet) has also been named a URI Foundation
Teaching Excellence Award winner, Carnegie Foundation Rhode Island Professor of
the Year, and inductee into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
“It’s really the pre-eminent history of Rhode Island’s
working class,” says Dionne.
Morse says the library values the trust Molloy has put in
the University Archives and Special Collections, entrusting these valuable
papers and records to University care.
In addition to the papers on display, guests enjoyed the
chance to laud Molloy for his work to bring the collection together.
URI President Emeritus Robert Carothers said Molloy has been
a great friend of the University, and now the library, with the archive.
Labor leader Patrick Crowley said, “Scott Molloy taught me
how to make trouble. Sharing stories of shared history, Scott taught us how to
be troublemakers and how important it is to hear and share working-class
people’s stories. He is not only a historian and an academic but an activist
and a fighter.” Crowley earned his master’s in history at URI in 2021 and is
the president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, representing 80,000 working Rhode
Islanders.
The affection in the room for Molloy was palpable, from
others in his department to colleagues from the Rhode Island Labor History
Society.
Miriam Reumann, teaching professor in URI’s history
department and president of URI’s faculty union, chuckled, looking at her
notes: “When I was jotting down notes for this, I wrote that Scott offers a
model of ‘enraged’ scholarship and teaching. I meant ‘engaged’ but, you know,
‘enraged’ is even more accurate and appropriate.”
Molloy’s scope and impact as a historian meant he was well
known by not only generations of URI community members, but also working Rhode
Islanders, Providence Journal readers — and bus takers on the #20C
Elmwood Avenue route, which he drove while pursuing his Ph.D. at Providence
College.
“He has brought the history of working people alive for
students and others,” she said. “This is a huge contribution to the complex
history of power, available for research and visitors.”
Describing his own working-class Irish roots, he noted that
there was a time in America when humble beginnings were celebrated.
In a humorous, at times fiery speech, Molloy deployed comic timing honed after decades maintaining order in the classroom and on the bus. A third-generation transit driver, the grandson of an Irish immigrant who conducted trolleys at the turn of the century, Molloy said working for the bus company offered good wages and benefits.
As he moved into academia, he saw a
lack of sense of history from his peers in the transit world, leading him to
make sharing Rhode Island labor history his mission. He wanted to see museum
collections that represented everyone.
He still wants to see the state’s working-class roots be
remembered and celebrated: “the fish and chips, clotheslines and picket lines,
triple deckers and punching a card.”
Recognizing the wide-ranging significance of many of the
documents he gathered, part of Molloy’s collection is on permanent exhibit at
the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He has also donated dozens of
articles to the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Museum of Work and Culture in
Woonsocket. Molloy has been named a Carnegie Foundation Rhode Island Professor
of the Year, a URI Foundation Teaching Excellence Award winner, and an inductee
into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
Molloy’s materials can be found in the University
Archives and Special Collections at the Robert L. Carothers Library on URI’s
Kingston Campus, available for use by the URI community and external
researchers, by appointment. Contact archives-group@uri.edu to arrange.
