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Ruth Molloy was an ardent collector throughout her life — of objects that fascinated her and of newspaper clippings, pamphlets, trade cards, postcards, advertisements, correspondence, and other papers that spoke to the history of Philadelphia and particularly, her beloved West Philadelphia. Ruth’s collected papers comprise a treasure trove for scholars of urban America and for community members of West Philadelphia, old and young alike.

Ruth Molloy's surviving papers are now housed in the University Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. The contents of these papers are summarized in the guide to this collection. By examining these collected papers, readers can learn, as noted below, about issues that concerned Ruth: schools; women students at the University of Pennsylvania; the University’s expansion and impact on neighborhoods; transportation developments; demographic transitions; and crime.

Ruth Molloy was a graduate of West Philadelphia High School. When she attended, the school was divided by gender (her classes were in the West Philadelphia High School for Girls). Ruth Molloy's mother believed in the Philadelphia public school system, so Ruth attended public schools in the city. Although Ruth Molloy went to school in West Philadelphia, high school had a much different culture during her tenure there than it does today. Ruth went back to her old high school later in life, and reflected on the changes in a paper. She wrote, "How has our high school changed? I know, because I see, that there is now a black principal, there are black and white teachers, black and white office workers, and I see that I might look a long time before I found any but black students." The racial re-composition of West Philadelphia occupied Ruth in her writing, both non-fiction and fiction.

Ruth Molloy’s three daughters attended St. Leonard's Academy at 39th and Chestnut Streets. According to one of Ruth’s daughters, St. Leonard's "was a private Catholic school, taught by the Holy Child order of nuns and a few lay teachers."

Ruth graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Education in 1930, and became very active in alumni and alumnae activities at Penn. In 1957, she wrote an editorial for the Pennsylvania Gazette, entitled, "Some Thoughts on a Dedicated Square," discussing her thoughts on the construction of the Women’s Residence Hall at Penn (it is now known as Hill College House). Prior to the construction of this female dormitory – located on Walnut Street between 33rd and 34th streets – housing for women at Penn was limited to Sergeant Hall, a former apartment building at 34th and Chestnut street. The construction of a female residence on Penn’s campus had a great deal of symbolic meaning for Ruth Molloy and others of her generation. To them, it represented a major step in the slow equalizing of male and female facilities and resources at the University of Pennsylvania. As Ruth notes,

We the women of this University, were not matriculated into equal studenthood, with a dormitory to lie down in…We were told we were neither beautiful nor desirable, but we thrived on scorn and somehow have achieved…

Through this article, we can see the ways in which Ruth Molloy was proud to be a Penn graduate while simultaneously disappointed in the University for neglecting women during her student years.

In addition to her passion for the University itself, Ruth was also concerned with the rapid demographic changes taking place in the area surrounding the University and the neighboring community. In the article written for the Pennsylvania Gazette, she wrote: "When the surface cars at last went underground and Woodland Ave. began to be closed to traffic, I suddenly knew that all things were possible. The spirit of change…[ha]s infected us all." Clearly, Ruth found the progressive modernization of West Philadelphia to be a source of delight for not only herself, but for everyone around her. Ruth later has misgivings about the re-development and change in University City.

Through her position on the Alumni board at the University of Pennsylvania, Ruth Molloy kept correspondence from Penn alumnus who wrote to her chronicling their own perception of the changes taking place in West Philadelphia. One alumnus was struck by his memory of the old horse-drawn trolley system (which featured green, blue, and red lines) that traveled from what is center-city Philadelphia to what is now University City. He said that when his family came to visit, they would take the trolleys to get to the restaurants in downtown Philadelphia, not unlike what many Penn students do today. Those trolleys served as his link between West Philadelphia and the broader Philadelphia community.

Noting the importance of public transportation, Ruth Molloy kept records of transportation innovations, in particular the changes that took place with the trolleys (the Woodland Street trolley in particular) and the demolition of the Market Street elevated between 30th and 40th streets.

Also key to Ruth Molloy’s perception of her neighborhood was the changing role of the University of Pennsylvania in the community. In 1990, Ruth Molloy wrote a satirical piece about treatment of crime in University City. When complaining about the theft of a table on her porch, she wrote, "It [the table] had also been on my porch at the now non-existent 3822 Locust Street for 22 years." Ruth expressed here some anger at the way that the Penn’s expansion involved the tearing down of homes and communities to continue its expansion. Ruth shared the perception of many West Philadelphia residents who protested the encroachment of the University of Pennsylvania on the surrounding neighborhoods: disappointment and frustration in the neglect of the rich history that West Philadelphia possessed.

Ruth Molloy’s papers also lend insight into similar encroachment of Drexel University on the Powelton Village area of West Philadelphia. Although the University of Pennsylvania’s expansion was the focus of far more media attention and scrutiny during the time, Drexel instituted similar policies in its northward development.

As West Philadelphia took on a markedly different feel in the last decades of the twentieth century, Ruth’s perception of her surroundings began to shift, although her zeal and passion for the community remained unchanged. She kept a collection of crime statistics, headlines, and newspaper articles from the 1970s onward, occasionally leaving her own notes in the margins. A great deal of Ruth Molloy’s collection of papers and photos reflect that preoccupation with crime. She gathered crime reports from the Daily Pennsylvanian and the Philadelphia Inquirer, seemingly intrigued by the way that the University addressed the issue of crime in the community. In my opinion, this issue held particular significance to Ruth because it forced her to reconcile the pride that she felt as one of Penn’s early female graduates with her fear for the future of her alma mater and her neighborhood.

In regards to shifting demographics in West Philadelphia, Ruth Molloy presented the case study of the Lawrence sisters (Edith and Elizabeth), two white women who once lived on 42nd Street, off Walnut. Ruth notes that they "heard a noise one night and discovered that their father’s portrait had been stolen." The two sisters were perplexed, not sure how a framed photograph of their father held any value to anyone but them. Following that incident, the two women put bars on their windows. In her anecdote, Ruth later notes that the Lawrence sisters "moved upstate" – leading me to believe that this is an example of how the increasing black population (and the increased crime that was associated with the black population) in the area forced what was left of the existing white West Philadelphia community to abandon the area.

In addition to crime incidents, Ruth Molloy also seemed interested in potential solutions to crime that plagued the area. She wrote about a program that incorporated the lighting of streets in West Philadelphia and she kept a list of "safety hints" (composed in 1973) which gave suggestions to residents as to how to prevent crime. Some of the proposed ideas included the following:

- Saying goodbye to an imaginary person in the house when you leave so burglars will think someone else is home. - Make the living room look like you’re only stepping out by doing things like leaving the vacuum in the middle of the room or leaving the television on. - Leave a small unobtrusive device (thread, paper) on top of the door - that way if someone comes in the device will be displaced and you’ll know someone is/was inside. - Misspell your name on your mailbox to make it more difficult for a burglar to call your number to see if you’re inside. - Since burglars like snowy and rainy days (because the sounds are muted), leave an umbrella on your porch to indicate someone is home. - Use your door as a mirror: if someone follows you, go back down the steps. If you think you’ll be forced in, pretend to faint.

Here, we can see the ways in which West Philadelphia residents thought about and approached the increase in crime in their community. Impractical or not, these suggestions suggest that the initial surge of crime in West Philadelphia led to somewhat irrational and knee-jerk reactions by neighborhood residents.

Ruth Molloy addresses these extravagant responses to crime in her article titled, "My Plan for the Treatment of Crime in Our Area," published in the University City Review in 1990. Ruth writes: "Let us, then, have a Crime Column which will be good reading and show University City for what it is, a great place to live and die in. All of us have our ‘Just listen to what happened to me this week stories’." Through satire and sarcasm, Ruth paints an image of an area obsessed with crime.

Finally, Ruth Molloy’s collection of letters, documents and photographs also demonstrates the way in which she was a strong advocate of community building efforts, largely a manifestation of Ruth’s role as co-founder of the University City Historical Society. For example, Spruce Hill found itself in the midst of community conflict in the 1990s when members of MOVE moved into a home near Ruth Molloy’s. This was not long after the MOVE bombings further changed the fabric of crime and race relations in West Philadelphia. There was immense debate as to how to address MOVE, even as to whether or not the group would be allowed to move into the neighborhood. However, a letter circulated around the block urged residents to welcome them warmly, as bigoted xenophobia was not a proper reflection of the community. An excerpt from the letter reads:

It’s been several weeks now since the news broke that our new neighbors on Kingsessing Avenue are members of MOVE. Quite frankly, the strain would have torn many less-assured communities apart. What could have brought out the worst has in fact brought out the best in Spruce Hill. Under stress, we have retained those qualities of tolerance, and commitment to neighborhood improvement. That's what makes us a unique neighborhood in the City of Philadelphia.

Along the same lines, a letter written to Ruth Molloy from a neighbor addresses the fracture among residents in the Spruce Hill neighborhood as crime began to ravage the neighborhood. The author, like Ruth, saw a need to unify varied interests and instill a sense of pride in what was a slowly deteriorating community.

Ruth Molloy’s membership in the University City Historical Society influenced her feelings regarding West Philadelphia, particularly as the press that the neighborhood received grew negative over time. To Ruth Molloy, the University City Historical Society was a way for her to channel her community pride into something everyone could enjoy, and Ruth worked hard to develop a comprehensive community history for an area whose social and cultural story is rarely told. The preservation of the history of West Philadelphia was of the utmost importance to Ruth Molloy, and using her personal collection as a lens through which we view West Philadelphia history provides a new way of looking at life in American cities.

Prepared by Jaryn Fields