Elizabeth Moynihan
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Elizabeth Therese Brennan Moynihan (September 19, 1929 – November 7, 2023) was an American historian and writer.
Biography
[edit]Born in Norfolk County, Massachusetts in 1929, to Therese Russell Brennan, a newspaper editor, and Francis Brennan, a chemical factory foreman, her early life was marked by economic hardship during the Great Depression.[1]
Moynihan attended Boston College but could not complete her degree due to financial difficulties.[1] She began her career in politics, volunteering in John F. Kennedy's 1952 Senate campaign and Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign.[1] She later moved to New York, working in Governor W. Averell Harriman's 1954 campaign, where she met her future husband, Pat Moynihan.[1]
Her involvement in her husband's political career was notable, particularly in strategizing against his electoral challengers.[1][2] During her husband's ambassadorship to India in the 1970s, Moynihan developed an interest in Mughal history.[1][3] She is credited with the discovery of a lost garden built by Emperor Babur, a find acknowledged by The Times as significant in the field of archaeology.[1][4]
Moynihan authored Paradise as a Garden: In Persia and Mughal India (1979), and edited The Moonlight Garden: New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal (2000), detailing the rediscovery and restoration of the Mehtab Bagh.[1] The project involved collaboration with Indian scholars and contributed to the preservation of historical sites.[1]
Moynihan was also a founding trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation in New York, advocating for the preservation of historical sites.[1] Her work in Mughal studies and preservation efforts are recognized as significant contributions to the field.[1]
Bibliography
[edit]- Paradise as a Garden: In Persia and Mughal India (1979)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roberts, Sam (November 8, 2023). "Elizabeth Moynihan, Engine of the Senator's Success, Dies at 94". Retrieved November 15, 2023 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Dullea, Georgia (October 27, 1976). "Elizabeth Moynihan Leaves the Sidelines for an Active Role in Senate Race". Retrieved November 15, 2023 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ "Liz Moynihan's Passage to India". The Washington Post. February 12, 1985. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
- ^ Langer, Emily (November 7, 2023). "Elizabeth Moynihan, impassioned scholar of Mughal gardens, dies at 94". Washington Post. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
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