Pitman, Mira H. (Almira Hollander), 1854-1939

By Arushi Sharma, student, Harvard University<p>
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Chairman of Ways and Means Committee, MWSA; Hawaiian Suffrage
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Almira Pitman, nee Hollander, was born in Massachusetts in 1854 to Jacob Louis and Maria Theresa Hollander, founders of L. P. Hollander & Co, a successful women's clothing retailer. In 1875, she married the wealthy merchant Benjamin F. Pitman, and henceforth became commonly known as Mrs. Benjamin F. Pitman, but she also went by Almira Pitman and her nickname Mira H. Pitman. The couple had two sons: Benjamin and Theodore Baldwin Pitman.
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Having grown up in Brookline, Massachusetts, Pitman was highly active in the local suffrage movement. She joined the New England Woman Suffrage Association in 1884, and in 1904, she was elected as the recording secretary for the Brookline Equal Suffrage Association, a position she held for numerous years. In 1913, Pitman became Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, or MWSA, and remained in this position until 1919. In this senior role, Pitman was directly responsible for planning and managing a variety of events. Notably, she oversaw the 1913, 1915, and 1919 Bay State Suffrage Festivals in Boston, the latter two of which raised $9,200 and $11,200 respectively for MWSA and other women's organizations.
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Pitman published several works about women's rights in the 1900s, including a 1912 poem in The Women's Journal called "In Freedom's Land". Pitman was bold and outspoken for her times, even writing a poem in 1909 for The Boston Herald titled "The Turnip and the Rose", in which she referred to a male politician who opposed suffrage as "a poor little bilious turnip".
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Pitman is particularly notable for her work towards suffrage in Hawaii. Pitman's husband was a descendant of five kings of Hawaii, so he and his wife were well respected there. In 1917, Pitman became engaged in the Hawaiian suffrage movement and held suffrage meetings with the local people. Afterwards, she used her influence to speak at U.S. Congressional hearings and is largely credited with the passage of the 1918 congressional bill granting women the right to vote in Hawaii. In 1931, Pitman published a book called After Fifty Years: An Appreciation, and a Record of a Unique Incident, documenting her family's experience in Hawaii. She visited Honolulu several times even after her husband's passing, and considered it to be a second home.
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In her later life, Pitman continued to remain an active champion for women and was often written about in The Boston Globe for hosting events at her Carlton Street estate in Brookline. For example, in 1924 she held a large reception for Mrs. Charles Bird, a candidate for delegate to the Republican National Convention. Moreover, Pitman was president of The Christopher Shop, a women's clothing retailer. She was also involved in the Women's Republican Club of Massachusetts and organized a variety of events, including a 1926 bridge party for 400 of the members.
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Pitman passed away in 1939 in Brookline, at the age of 85.