Born into a family of teachers,[2] he attended Vanderbilt University from undergrad through his Ph.D.[3] During the window between 1939 and 1945, he worked for a time alongside Harriett Owsley and Blanche Henry Clark on what were known as the Owsley charts, "a composite of Schedules I (land ownership), H (slave ownership), and IV (products of agriculture) of the unpublished Federal Census for Tennessee, 1850 and 1860."[4] Mooney served in the U.S. Army during World War II, working as a senior historian.[3]
His 1957 Slavery in Tennessee was praised at the time of publication as the most complete and definitive work on the topic to that time;[5] the book was reprinted by Negro Universities Press in 1971.[6] He was an associate editor of the Journal of American History from 1963 to 1966.[3]
Mooney's posthumously published biography of William H. Crawford was described as "more than just another rehash of a life...It is consummately a biography of one of Georgia's great men...it is a fine example of historiography brilliantly and sparsely written. Third, it is a source work about a little-known man caught up in commonly known times and places."[7] A native of Tennessee,[5] Mooney taught at Indiana University for most of his career.[3]
