American Folk Figure. She penned the most famous Christmas letter of the last two centuries. As an eight-year-old girl, Virginia O'Hanlon asked her father Philip whether there was a Santa Claus. His best advice was to write to the "New York Sun" and, if she saw it in print there, she could believe it. The letter, written September 21, 1897 to the general editor of the "Sun" Francis Pharcellus Church, and its editorial response, has become a classic tale of the Christmas holiday season—"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Virginia became a career educator and spent 47 years in the classroom and as a principal in the New York City schools. All her life she was asked whether she still believed, and delighted in providing response via printed copies of the Sun editorial. The original letter, once believed destroyed in a house fire, survives in family hands.
American Folk Figure. She penned the most famous Christmas letter of the last two centuries. As an eight-year-old girl, Virginia O'Hanlon asked her father Philip whether there was a Santa Claus. His best advice was to write to the "New York Sun" and, if she saw it in print there, she could believe it. The letter, written September 21, 1897 to the general editor of the "Sun" Francis Pharcellus Church, and its editorial response, has become a classic tale of the Christmas holiday season—"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Virginia became a career educator and spent 47 years in the classroom and as a principal in the New York City schools. All her life she was asked whether she still believed, and delighted in providing response via printed copies of the Sun editorial. The original letter, once believed destroyed in a house fire, survives in family hands.
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