Whitehouse, Vira Boarman, 1875-1957

Vira (Boarman) Whitehouse was born in Virginia on September 16, 1875, the daughter of Robert and Cornelia (Terrell) Boarman. Educated at Newcomb College in New Orleans, VBW married Norman de R. Whitehouse, a New York stockbroker, on April 13, 1898. The couple had one child, Alice (Whitehouse) Harjes.

As 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), VBW was a leader in securing suffrage for New York women in November 1917. In 1918, VBW became director of the Swiss office of the United States Committee on Public Information; her assignment was to "combat the German propaganda and make plain the aims of the American people" ( Who Was Who, vol. 5, 1973, p. 776). She published a book, A Year as a Government Agent (1920), recounting this experience.

In 1921 VBW 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, instituting a 44-hour (as opposed to 48-hour) work week, among other changes. VBW sold the company before the stock market crash in 1929.

In 1925 she was elected a member of the Democratic County Committee from Manhattan's 15th Assembly District. Organizing and helping in state political campaigns occupied much of the rest of her life; she was national chairman of the Woman's Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace and active in the Women's City Club, which she helped found in 1916. VBW died on April 11, 1957.

From the guide to the Papers, 1889-1957, n.d., (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)

Whitehouse, educated at Newcomb College in New Orleans, La., and married to a New York stockbroker, was chairman of the publicity council of the Empire State Campaign Committee (1913) and the New York Suffrage Party (1916). She was director of the Swiss office of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (1918), about which she wrote a book (1920). Owner of the Whitehouse Leather Company in the 1920s, she remained active in state political campaigns and in women's clubs.

From the description of Papers, 1889-1957 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 232006890