Virginia O'Hanlon

A girl wearing a dress and standing on a bicycle
Virginia O'Hanlon (circa 1895)
O' Hanlon's original 1897 letter

Laura Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas (July 20, 1889 – May 13, 1971) was an American educator best known for writing a letter as a child to the New York newspaper The Sun that inspired the 1897 editorial "Is There a Santa Claus?". The editorial, by Francis Pharcellus Church, contains the line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", and brought attention to O'Hanlon for the rest of her life. Historian Gerald Bowler called it "the most famous editorial in history."