Background
Vira Boarman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 16, 1875, to Robert Boarman and Cornelia Terrell.
Vira Boarman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 16, 1875, to Robert Boarman and Cornelia Terrell.
She attended Newcomb College in New Orleans.
They had one child, Alice Whitehouse Harjes. 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). In 1921, she bought the Buchan-Murphy Manufacturing Company, a leather business, renamed it the Whitehouse Leather Products Company, Incorporated., 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. The following year, she became Chairman of the Independent Women"s Committee for Judge Wagner.
She sold her leather company before the stock market crash of 1929.
She died at her home in New York City, April 11, 1957. Her papers are archived at the Harvard University Library.
In 1925, she was elected a member of the Democratic County Committee from Manhattan"s 15th Assembly District.