David Scott Molloy was born on August 17, 1946 in Providence, RI to David and Miriam (nee Handy) Molloy. Molloy grew up in the Reservoir Triangle neighborhood of Providence. His father was a Providence Police officer and his mother was a math teacher at Mount Pleasant High School. Molloy graduated from Hope Highschool in 1965 where he was involved with civil rights advocacy efforts. He received bachelors degree from Rhode Island College (1970), a masters in American History from University of New Hampshire (1972), and a doctorate degree in American Labor History from Providence College (1991).
After receiving his masters degree Molloy was employed as a bus driver for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) from 1973-1981. From 1976-1984 he served as an adjunct faculty member at Rhode Island College, Community College of Rhode Island, Providence College, and the Institute for Labor Studies. From 1985-1986 Molloy served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Congresswoman Claudine Schneider before founding the Rhode Island Labor History Society (RILHS). RILHS conducts oral histories, hosts lecture series, publishes works on labor history, and hosts forums for labor leaders, academics, workers, and students.
Additionally, from 1976-1984 Molloy served as president, business agent, and shop steward for Division 618 of the Amalgamated Transit Union in Providence, RI. He represented over 500 union members negotiating contracts, managing arbitrations and grievances, editing union publications, and was involved with political lobbying efforts. He also chaired the union's political action committee and served on the transit union's executive board, as well as the parent union's New England Joint Council (NEJC).
In 1986 Molloy was hired as an Associate Professor of the University of Rhode Island's Charles T. Schmidt Jr. Labor Research Center. He assumed full-time teaching and administrative duties as part of a labor studies masters degree program concentrating on worker and industrial history, labor union governance, and introductory business studies. He was also involved in adult education, conference planning, student internship programs, and the creation of two labor archives, one at the Rhode Island Historical Society and the other at Rhode Island College.
Molloy sat on the executive boards of the Rhode Island chapter of the AFL-CIO and the Providence Central Labor Council. He is an active participant in various Irish heritage groups, and helped create the Irish Famine Memorial in Providence, Rhode Island. Molloy has received several awards including Rhode Island Professor of the Year (2004) and the URI Foundation Teaching Excellence Award (1995), and the Carngie Foundation's Professor of the Year award (2005) and in 1990 The Smithsonian Institute named a historical labor collection after him. He was also inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame (2009) and was the Grand Marshall of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Providence (2018).
Molloy is the author of several books including "Trolley Wars: Streetcar Workers on the Line" (1996)," All Aboard: The History of Mass Transportation in Rhode Island" (2004), "Irish Titan, Irish Toilers: Joseph Banigan and Nineteenth-Century New England Labor" (2008), and his memoir "From the front of the bus to the front of the class : growing up a baby boomer in the Reservoir triangle" (2022).
Scott Molloy retired from the University of Rhode Island after 30 years of teaching, research, and service. He has donated hundreds of artifacts, records, and other research materials relating to labor history to the Smithsonian Institute and the University of Rhode Island's University Archives and Special Collections (UASC), Rhode Island College and The Rhode Island Historical Society. His labor archive, the Scott Molloy Labor History Archive, is open for research at UASC.
Any qualified person doing scholarly research is permitted to use material housed in the Special Collections Unit.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Scott Molloy Papers, Mss. Gr. 232.1, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
The collection contains materials relating to Professor Scott Molloy's youth and adult life including his parents, immediate and extended family. Subjects also include materials and publications on Rhode Island history, Irish history and labor history. The records consist of correspondence, research files, education records, labor records and history publications, appointment books, reports, photographs, geneological research, newsclippings, notes, artifacts, memorabilia, postcards, and trip files.
The collection is arranged in seven series as follows:
The collection materials were transferred to Special Collections in several installments from 2023-2024 by Scott Molloy.
The series contains correspondence, reports, news articles, journal articles, labor documents, education records, speeches, lecture materials, press releases, handwritten notes, maps, historical society records, photographs, research materials, public transit guides and ephemera.
Subjects include organized labor, Irish history, historical organizations, public transit, Rhode Island history and cultures, monographic research, and Molloy’s personal materials.
The series contains correspondence, photographs, new articles, reports, certificates, sports memorabilia, police records, military records, student letters, education records, retirement records and trip files.
Subjects include David Malloy’s education, sports career, military service and employment as a Providence police officer, as well as Miriam Molloy’s education, graduate work in mathematics, and teaching career.
The series contains records regarding Scott Molloy, his immediate and extended family members. The series contains correspondence, resumes, reports, geneological materials, certificates, emails, news articles, and holiday cards.
Subjects include Scott Molloy’s travel letters, letters and emails from his children, materials on his uncle, Henry Molloy, and materials on Miriam Molloy’s mother, Virginia Handy.
The series contains small to medium sized photographs, negatives, photocopied photographs and book covers, photo album pages, and some folders contain materials related to subject matter of the photographs.
Subjects include family photographs, trips abroad, head stones, school reunions, activist groups, labor union events, Reservoir Triangle neighborhood reunion, and photographs used in Scott Molloy’s memoire “From the Front of the Bus to the Front of the Class: Growing Up a Baby Boomer in the Reservoir Triangle”.
The series contains research materials collected and created by Scott Molloy’s mother and sister regarding the genealogical history of his family.
Records include photocopied historical publications, birth, death, and marriage certificates, news articles, pedigree charts, correspondence, photographs, and family sheet forms.
The series consists of notepads, pocket calendars, weekly diaries, and weekly planners containing notes on daily schedules and contact information.
The series contains labor history monographs, event programs, pamphlets, flyers, convention proceedings, reports, commemoration programs, articles, newsletters, union business proceedings, and labor promotional materials.
The series contains publications on Rhode Island history from the Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Island Supreme Court Historical Society, Institute for Labor Studies and Research (Working in Rhode Island: Past and Present). The series also contains an extensive study guide on the legacy of Roger Williams.
The series contains publications on Irish history including a graphic rememberance, "A Full Life: James Connolly the Irish Rebel", "The Irish of Rhode Island from Log House to State House, 1640-1940", "Our Own Kind" (Edward McSorley), "An Irish Pilgrimage" (George Potter).
The series contains film reels, framed photographs, oversized photographs, audiocassettes, microfilm reels, personal items, labor union resolutions, posters, flyers, drafting tools, and military realia.