Moser-Rath received her doctorate in 1949 from the University of Vienna with the publication of her thesis: Studien zur Quellenkunde und Motivik obersteirischer Volksmärchen aus der Sammlung Pramberger, which was an analysis of the narratives in Irish fairytales. She took her first job at the Austrian Folkculture Museum (Österreichischen Museum für Volkskunde).
In 1955 she married Hans Moser, who was the Director of the Bavarian Folk Museum (Bayerischen Landesstelle für Volkskunde) in Munich, but who was also an Austrian native. In 1969 she went to the University of Göttingen as an assistant professor to work under Professor Rolf Wilhelm Brednich on the Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales (Enzyklopädie des Märchens). In 1982 she became a full professor there.
She is known primarily for the quality of her work on the Encyclopedia of Fairytales, and her analysis of literature from early modern times, and especially of Catholic sermons from the baroque period.
Works (selection)
Predigtmärlein der Barockzeit. Exempel, Sage, Schwank und Fabel in geistlichen Quellen des oberdeutschen Raumes. Hrsg von Elfriede Moser-Rath. Berlin 1964.
Die Fabel als rhetorisches Element in der katholischen Predigt der Barockzeit. pp. 59–75 in: Hasubek, Peter (ed.); Die Fabel: Theorie, Geschichte und Rezeption einer Gattung. Berlin: Schmidt; 1982. 291 pp.
"Lustige Gesellschaft" : Schwank und Witz des 17. u. 18. Jahrhundert in kultur- u. sozialgeschichtlichem Kontext. Stuttgart 1984 ISBN3-476-00553-4
Dem Kirchenvolk die Leviten gelesen : Alltag im Spiegel süddeutscher Barockpredigten. Stuttgart 1991 ISBN3-476-00740-5
