KINGSTON, R.I. – Nov. 25, 2024 – Though he retired from full-time teaching in 2016, Scott Molloy, University of Rhode Island professor emeritus of labor and industrial relations, can still command a room — no microphone needed.
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 event was a celebration of the archive and a sharing of some of its contents, as Molloy encourages continued conversation and interest around the materials.
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.
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.
“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.