{{Short description|American historian and writer (1929–2023)}} thumb|Elizabeth Moynihan {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} '''Elizabeth Therese Brennan Moynihan''' (September 19, 1929 – November 7, 2023) was an American historian and writer.
==Biography== 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.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/nyregion/elizabeth-moynihan-dead.html|title=Elizabeth Moynihan, Engine of the Senator’s Success, Dies at 94|first=Sam|last=Roberts|date=8 November 2023|accessdate=15 November 2023|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>
Moynihan attended Boston College but could not complete her degree due to financial difficulties.<ref name="auto"/> She began her career in politics, volunteering in John F. Kennedy's 1952 Senate campaign and Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign.<ref name="auto"/> She later moved to New York, working in Governor W. Averell Harriman's 1954 campaign, where she met her future husband, Pat Moynihan.<ref name="auto"/>
Her involvement in her husband's political career was notable, particularly in strategizing against his electoral challengers.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/27/archives/elizabeth-moynihan-leaves-the-sidelines-for-an-active-role-in.html|title=Elizabeth Moynihan Leaves the Sidelines for an Active Role in Senate Race|first=Georgia|last=Dullea|date=27 October 1976|accessdate=15 November 2023|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> During her husband's ambassadorship to India in the 1970s, Moynihan developed an interest in Mughal history.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web | title=Liz Moynihan's Passage to India | website=The Washington Post | date=12 February 1985 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/02/12/liz-moynihans-passage-to-india/02ed4bb0-cf18-4aa2-acc6-545135eef34f/ | access-date=15 November 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web | last=Langer | first=Emily | title=Elizabeth Moynihan, impassioned scholar of Mughal gardens, dies at 94 | website=Washington Post | date=7 November 2023 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/11/07/elizabeth-moynihan-india-gardens-dead/ | access-date=15 November 2023}}</ref>
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.<ref name="auto"/> The project involved collaboration with Indian scholars and contributed to the preservation of historical sites.<ref name="auto"/>
Moynihan was also a founding trustee of the Leon Levy Foundation in New York, advocating for the preservation of historical sites.<ref name="auto"/> Her work in Mughal studies and preservation efforts are recognized as significant contributions to the field.<ref name="auto"/>
==Bibliography== * ''Paradise as a Garden: In Persia and Mughal India'' (1979)
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moynihan, Elizabeth}} Category:1929 births Category:2023 deaths Category:People from Norfolk County, Massachusetts Category:Writers from Massachusetts Category:Boston College alumni Category:20th-century American historians Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American women writers