Vira Boarman Whitehouse

Mr. and Mrs. Norman DeR. Whitehouse in 1914

Vira Boarman Whitehouse (September 16, 1875 - April 11, 1957) was the owner of the Whitehouse Leather Company, and a suffragette and early proponent of birth control.^[1]

Biography

Vira Boarman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on September 16, 1875, to Robert Boarman and Cornelia Terrell.^[1][2]

She attended Newcomb College in New Orleans. She married James Norman de Rapelye Whitehouse (1858–1949), a New York stockbroker, on April 13, 1898. They had one child, Alice Whitehouse Harjes.^[1]

She was chairman in 1913 of the publicity council of the Empire State Campaign Committee and in 1916 of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party (NYSWSP). She was a leader in securing suffrage for New York women in November 1917.

In 1918, she became director of the Swiss office of the Committee on Public Information. She reported her experiences in A Year as a Government Agent (1920).^[3]

In 1921 she bought the Buchan-Murphy Manufacturing Company, a leather business, renamed it the Whitehouse Leather Products Company, Inc., and reorganized it with herself as president. She managed the company for eight years, reducing the work week from 48 hours to 44 hours, among other changes.^[1]

In 1925 she was elected a member of the Democratic County Committee from Manhattan's 15th Assembly District.^[1]

In 1926 she became Chairman of the Independent Women's Committee for Judge Wagner.^[4] She sold her leather company before the stock market crash of 1929.^[1]

She died at her home in New York City on April 11, 1957.^[1][5]

Legacy

Her papers are archived at the Harvard University Library.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Whitehouse, Vira Boarman, 1875-1957". http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00966. Retrieved 2010-07-24. 
2. ^ Social register, New York. Social Register Association. p. 713. http://books.google.com/books?id=3EtIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA713&lpg=PA713&. 
3. ^ Martin J. Manning with Herbert Romerstein, Historical Dictionary of American Propaganda (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press), 319-20
4. ^ "She Sees Wadsworth Bringing the Party to 'the Brink of Ruin.'". New York Times. October 20, 1926. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60B13FF3D581B7A93C2AB178BD95F428285F9. Retrieved 2010-07-24. 
5. ^ Berns, David (April 12, 1957). "Mrs. Whitehouse, Suffrage Leader. State Party Chairman Who Was Credited With Winning The Vote In 1917 Dies". New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50616F63854177B93C0A8178FD85F438585F9. Retrieved 2010-07-24. 

Persondata
Name	Whitehouse, Vira Boarman
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 16, 1875
Place of birth	New Orleans, Louisiana
Date of death	April 11, 1957
Place of death	New York, New York