Elizabeth Moore (1949–2024)

Indonesia and the Malay World is deeply saddened by the recent passing of Elizabeth Moore, Emeritus Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, School of Arts, SOAS University of London. One of the foremost experts in the field of Southeast Asian art and archaeology, Elizabeth had served as a dedicated member of the editorial board of Indonesia and the Malay World since 1988 (when it was known as Indonesia Circle). She continued to contribute her time and expertise over the past 35 years to advise on matters relating to its running and publications.

Born Elizabeth Whittem Howard on 28 August 1949 in Washington DC, she was one of three children of Paul Cushing Howard (1913–1968) and Margaret Huntington Whittem Howard (1913–2006). Elizabeth’s family has had a long relationship with Southeast Asia. Her paternal grandparents, Randolph Lee Howard (1884–1958) and Mae Myrtle Cushing (1884–1956) were Baptist missionaries. In 1910 they travelled to Myanmar, where Randolph taught philosophy at Judson College in Yangon, and later became its president in 1921. Their son Paul (Elizabeth’s father) was born there, before the family returned to the USA in 1924 (Howard 1931; American Baptist Foreign Mission Society 1957: 33; Cushing 1969: 156). Meanwhile Elizabeth’s maternal grandfather, Arthur Fisher Whittem (1879–1958), was Associate Professor of Romance languages at Harvard University where he taught French and Spanish for 44 years until his retirement in 1946 (Boston Globe 1958: 28).

With such a background it is perhaps unsurprising that Elizabeth chose the path of education and made Myanmar one of her main research areas. She also conducted research on Thailand and Cambodia, and at the same time was active in regard to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Elizabeth was perhaps one of the few scholars who possessed an adept understanding of both mainland and maritime regions of Southeast Asia, a theme that comes through in her writing and teaching. However, the focus here will be on her connections and work in maritime Southeast Asia.

Elizabeth earned her BA degree in Art from Pomona College in Claremont, California in 1971. Subsequently, she and her then husband ventured to Nairobi for a year, where she worked as a schoolteacher. In 1973, they moved to Southeast Asia, spending the remainder of the decade there, where she taught in several schools in Jakarta and Singapore (Arts of Asia 1981; Lim 2016; Charney 2024; Southeast Asian Archaeology (SEAArch) 2024; pers. comm. Richard Howard, 13 February 2024).

However, in 1978 she left teaching to focus on research and writing. Her tenure in Singapore during this period laid the foundation for much of her academic work. Among her earliest publications were examinations on the material culture of the Peranakan Chinese, particularly its silverware and ceramics. In addition, Elizabeth was actively involved with the Friends of the National Museum of Singapore, which was co-founded in 1978 by one of her close friends, Anne Tofield. She joined in their study groups, and in March 1980 delivered what was probably her first public lecture – a talk titled ‘Indonesia and Kampuchea’ – as part of their ‘South-east Asian art lecture series’ (Perkins 1980). It was also from Singapore that Elizabeth first went to Myanmar and Thailand, two areas that became the focal points of her academic pursuits. At this point she became particularly interested in the Mun River Basin in the Khorat Plateau in northeast Thailand. In 1978 she conducted a ground survey of the temples there, which laid the foundation for her PhD studies in the following years.

In 1981 Elizabeth enrolled as a graduate student at SOAS but later transferred to the Institute of Archaeology (now part of University College London). Her PhD thesis, ‘The moated mu’ang of the Mun River Basin Delta’ (1986) was published in 1988 as Moated sites in early north east Thailand in the British Archaeological Reports series in Oxford, becoming one of her most influential works.

Elizabeth’s PhD research was underpinned by a collection of more than 5,000 aerial photographs of Southeast Asia taken between 1942 and 1952, mainly by the British Royal Air Force (RAF). They were collected by Peter Darell Rider Williams-Hunt (1919–1953), an aerial photographic interpreter for the British army, who in 1946 was appointed as the first Advisor on Aborigines for the Federation of Malaya. Almost half of the photographs in his collection are of Peninsular Malaysia (2,632 photos; 45%), with the rest comprising images of Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore and other areas. These photographs were crucial to Elizabeth’s research and after much searching she finally found them in the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford (Moore 1986 II: 1–2).

Elizabeth had new copies made of the photographs, and transferred them and the originals to SOAS where they remain today in the Library as the Williams-Hunt collection. Apart from the Malaysian images, the photographs have been made available online by Surat Lertlum from the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy on the ‘Geo-Spatial Digital Archive Project (GDAP)’ website < http://gdap.crma.ac.th/hierachical-data-collection/williams-hunt-collections/>. In 2009, 27 years after finding the photographs, Elizabeth paid a visit to Malaysia to meet Williams-Hunt’s son, Anthony (Amani Williams Hunt Abdullah), who showed her his father’s grave in Tapah, Perak.

After completing her PhD, Elizabeth returned to SOAS and became a Research Associate with the Centre of South East Asian Studies (CSEAS), and in 1988 was appointed as a Sir Peter Parker training fellow in the Department of South East Asia. She joined the editorial board of Indonesia Circle in the same year. In 1990 Elizabeth moved to the newly-formed Department of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, becoming its first member of staff.

Over the next 25 years in the department, Elizabeth continued to research, publish and teach on the arts of Southeast Asia. Whilst her research scope focused primarily on Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, she kept abreast with scholarly developments on the maritime region of Southeast Asia, reviewing books on topics such as the reliefs of Borobudur, betel cutters, photographs of Bali from the 1930s and 10th–16th-century East Javanese temples. She was also actively engaged with fostering cultural exchanges with the region, for example by helping to facilitate a show on Malaysian contemporary art, ‘Rupa Malaysia: A decade of art 1987–1997’ (1998), the first exhibition from Southeast Asia to be held at the Brunei Gallery (SOAS).

Elizabeth continued to be involved with further displays at the Brunei Gallery. The exhibitions ‘The arts of Southeast Asia from the SOAS collections’ (2014–2016) and ‘Celebrating art and music: The SOAS collections’ (2017) were particularly significant for her, as they showcased a selection from the approximately 150 objects she had generously donated to SOAS. These artefacts, ranging from ceramics and metalwork to textiles and lacquerware, represent diverse artistic and cultural traditions across Southeast Asia. Around 100 items form the SOAS Teaching and Handling Collection, an invaluable resource that allows students on the MA ‘Curating cultures’ course to engage with curatorial practices by creating their own exhibitions within the Wolfson Gallery (SOAS Library) (Kauser 2024).

Elizabeth’s dedication to education was evident in her teaching throughout her 25 years in the History of Art and Archaeology department. She played a pivotal role in shaping the teaching curriculum for Southeast Asian art, offering a comprehensive exploration of diverse aspects of the art and culture of the region. I had the privilege of attending her MA course ‘Southeast Asian art and archaeology’ in 2006–2007, where the topics covered ranged from the ancient temples of Bagan and Angkor to Balinese rituals and textiles from Sumba. Elizabeth consistently encouraged active participation, urging students to not only absorb the knowledge presented but also to contribute to and enrich the discussions.

Learning went beyond just the classroom. The door to her office in the Brunei Building was always open to anyone who wished to drop in. Regardless of how busy she was, she never failed to extend a warm welcome to visitors. The outpouring of messages from her former students upon her passing – online and during the memorial service on 17 February – attest to the high regard she had from her students. It is perhaps unsurprising to learn that she was awarded the SOAS Director’s Prize for Teaching (Alumni Newsletter 2005). Even after her retirement, she continued to be involved in education, becoming the In-Region Liaison for the SOAS Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme (SAAAP).

Indonesia and the Malay World has lost a valuable longstanding member who contributed so much to the study, discourse and teaching on Southeast Asia. Elizabeth’s holistic approach underscores her commitment to comprehensively understand the diverse facets of the heritage and culture of the region. Her insatiable curiosity extended beyond the realms of art. A vivid memory in 2009 stands out – whilst she was in Singapore and Malaysia, Elizabeth stumbled upon a local fruit called the duku. Filled with excitement, she promptly shared her newfound discovery with me in an email: ‘Have you ever had duku fruit – like big lychees now in season here but I had never had before. They are nice!’ (pers. comm., 18 September 2009).

She will be missed greatly.

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our warmest thanks to Elizabeth’s family, especially her brother Richard Howard and her niece Laura Robinson, for kindly providing some of their personal recollections and photos of her. Thanks are also due to her friends, colleagues and students for their invaluable help and contribution to this essay, including Angela Chiu, Anna Contadini, Sylvia Fraser Lu, Paul Graham, John Hollingworth, Muhammad Azam Adnan, Ben Murtagh, Lesley Pullen, Maura Rinaldi, Dawn Rooney, Peter Sharrock, Mimi Savitri, Heidi Tan, Anne Tofield and Patricia Bjaaland Welch, as well as to the SOAS Library and Special Collections, in particular Ed Hood, Erich Kesse and Jotika Khur-Yearn, and the Friends of the Museums Singapore. Photograph of Elizabeth Moore courtesy of the Department of History of Art and Archaeology, SOAS University of London.

Notes

* For Elizabeth Moore’s publications on mainland Southeast Asia, see SOAS <https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/view/people/Moore=3AElizabeth=3A=3A.html>