In 1897, on the advice of her father, eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a short letter to the editor of The New York Sun in which she sought confirmation of Santa Claus’ existence. In response, Francis Pharcellus Church published an editorial on September 21st, entitled ‘Is There a Santa Claus? ‘. Of interest, in 1997 Virginia’s great-grandson appeared with the letter on the Antiques Roadshow where it was valued at $20,000 to $30,000.
Dear Editor,
I am eight years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says “If you see it in the Sun it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon.
115 W.95th St
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank GOD! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Church’s personal motto was “Endeavour to clear your mind of can’t.” The son of a Baptist minister Church had covered the Civil War for the New York Times. He was the anonymous editorial writer for The New York Sun. Written in response to a letter by eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real the editorial was initially published, and Church’s authorship was not disclosed until after his death in 1906. The Sun gradually accepted its popularity and republished it during the Christmas season every year from 1924 to 1949 when the paper ceased publication.
“Is There a Santa Claus?” is commonly reprinted during Christmas and has been cited as the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language. It has been translated into approximately 20 languages, and adapted as a film, television presentations, a musical, and a cantata.
Thirty-six years after the 8 year old Virginia’s letter was published she wrote of the events that prompted her letter.
“Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus for he never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus I was filled with doubts. I asked my father and he was a little evasive on the subject.
It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.”
“‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,” I said to Father.
He said, “Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer as it always does.”
Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April 1906 leaving no children.
At 21 Virginia O’Hanlon graduated from Hunter College with a B.A. degree. The year later she received a Master’s degree from Columbia and began teaching in New York City in 1912. She became a school principal and retired after 47 years. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about Santa Claus and attached to each reply an attractive printed copy of Church’s editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971 at age 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, New York. FYI.