Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

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Francis Pharcellus Church, writer of the famous editorial.

“Is There a Santa Claus?” was the headline that appeared over an editorial in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun. The editorial, which included the response of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States.

1 History
2 “Yes, Virginia...” in popular culture
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, a coroner’s assistant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia (1889-1971), whether Santa Claus really existed. Virginia had begun to doubt whether there was a Santa Claus, because her friends had told her that he did not exist.

Dr. O’Hanlon told her to write to the New York Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her the paper would tell her the truth. While he was possibly passing the buck, he unwittingly gave one of the paper’s editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, an opportunity to rise above the simple question, and address the philosophical issues behind it.

Church was a war correspondent during the American Civil War, a time which saw great suffering and a corresponding lack of hope and faith in much of society. Although the paper ran the editorial in the seventh place on the editorial page, below even an editorial on the newly invented “chainless bicycle,” its message was very moving to many people who read it. More than a century later it remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language^[1]; the Sun itself reprinted it annually for years after its initial publication. A few have questioned the veracity of the letter’s authorship, noting that a young girl such as Virginia would not refer to children her own age as “my little friends”; however, the original copy of the letter appeared and was authenticated by an appraiser on Antiques Road Show in 1997.[1] The message contained in the response is considered as pertinent today as in 1897.

Interestingly enough, when the editorial is reproduced today, it often omits more than half of Church’s original response. One paragraph that is not often repeated begins, “Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies.”

Every year, Virginia’s letter and Church’s response are read at the Yule Log ceremony at Church’s alma mater, Columbia College of Columbia University.

The story of Virginia’s inquiry and the Sun’s response was adapted into an Emmy Award-winning animated television special in 1974, animated by Bill Melendez (best known for his work on the various Peanuts specials) and featuring the voices of Jim Backus and Jimmy Osmond. In New York City, local television journalist Gabe Pressman has recounted the story each Christmas for the past thirty years.

Virginia O’Hanlon received a steady stream of mail about her letter throughout her life. She would include a copy of the editorial in her replies. In an interview later in life, she credited the editorial with shaping the direction of her life quite positively.

[edit] “Yes, Virginia...” in popular culture

The article provided the basis for a TV movie in 1991 and a subsequent stage play (by the same author).
“Weird Al” Yankovic’s 1996 song The Night Santa Went Crazy has a line referencing the editorial: “Yes, Virginia, now Santa’s doin’ time” or, in the Extra Gory version, “Yes, Virginia, now Santa Claus is dead.”
The story was read in the 1997 movie Air Bud.
In 2006, the duo The Dresden Dolls released an album titled Yes, Virginia....