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Social worker Frances Molinaro (1896-1986) had a forty-seven year involvement with the Hull-House settlement house in Chicago, first as a volunteer and later as an employee. Molinaro was introduced to Hull-House at the age of three, when her mother Caroline was invited by Hull-House co-founder Jane Addams to demonstrate traditional textile craftwork in the settlement Labor Museum. Young Frances accompanied her mother and joined in Hull-House activities while her mother wove and spun for visitors to the museum.
A tailor's apprentice at thirteen, Molinaro studied design and tailoring in high school, intending a career in design. In September of 1920, she took what she believed would be a temporary job at Hull-House. However, she remained at the settlement, serving in a variety of positions including receptionist, housekeeper, tour guide, nurse's aide, secretary, and home visitor. When Hull-House moved from its Halsted Street location on the Near West Side of Chicago, Molinaro continued to work at the new Hull-House Association headquarters at 3212 Broadway.
Molinaro retired in 1967 and moved to Mt. Prospect, Illinois. After seeing an article calling for volunteers written by another former Hull-House resident Mary A. Young, Molinaro began volunteer work with a suburban senior citizen organization. In March 1968, she was elected to the Chicago Senior Citizen's Hall of Fame and in 1969, she was awarded the Jane Addams Medallion at Hull-House Association's 79th Annual Meeting and Dinner. Molinaro died on November 15, 1986.
The collection includes a photograph album containing photos taken in and around the University of Chicago settlement house, ca. 1900, newspaper clippings collected by Molinaro commemorating Jane Addams and Hull-House, correspondence, Hull-House publications, and two photographs. The materials are arranged in chronological order.
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Frances Molinaro papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago