Virginia Haviland

1911-1988

I would like to thank the Library of Congress for assisting me with compiling this information.

Virginia Haviland was an authority in Children's literature and specialized in fairy tales. She is best known for her Favorite Fairy Tales series, featuring 16 countries: England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Poland, India, Russia, Norway, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia. For more about her books, see her bibliographic page.

Born in Rochester, NY on 21 May 1911 [1] [2] [3], she grew up largely in Massachusetts where her Social Security number was issued [2]. "During her childhood, she traveled abroad and spent time with two aunts who entertained international visitors in their home. The early influence of contact with international visitors may have influenced her adult interest in traveling and working with international colleagues." [1]

She held a BA in economics and mathematics from Cornell University (1933). She became a children's librarian in 1934 for the Boston Public Library, under the tutelage of Alice Jordan (founder of children's services there). She was a branch librarian and children's librarian at Boston from 1948 to 1952, and a reader's advisor for children from 1952 to 1963. She studied folklore under Albert B. Lord at Hartford. In 1949 she gave the New England Library Association's Hewins Lecture for research in the history of children's literature about nineteenth-century travel books for children, and taught Library Service to Children and Reading Guidance for Children at Simmons College School of Library Science from 1957 to 1962 where there is now a Virginia Haviland Scholarship.[1] She also reviewed for The Horn Book Magazine for about thirty years.

She was the chair of the Children's Services Division of the American Library Association (ALA) from 1954 to 1955, and as such attended conferences of the International Board on Books for Children (now called the International Board on Books for Young People), the International Federation of Library Associations, and the Institutions Roundtable for Children's Literature Documentation Centers. She was also chair of the Newbery-Caldecott Award Committee of the ALA from 1953-1954, and held positions of authority in other national and international professional organizations, including positions on many committees and juries that selected outstanding children's books. Her "credo was 'The right book for the right child at the right time.' She had high standards by which to judge children's literature and also accepted newer forms." [1] She judged the New York Herald Tribune Children's Spring Book Festival Awards from 1955 to 1957, as well as the International Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Book World Children's Spring Book Festival Awards, and the National Book Awards (1969). She was instrumental in beginning the Washington Post Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award.

In 1962 she was invited down to Washington D.C. to found the Center for Children's Literature at the Library of Congress. She became its first Head in 1963, and worked for the Library of Congress until her retirement in 1981.

She was awarded the Regina Medal "for continuous distinguished contribution to children's literature" from the Catholic Library Association in 1976, and the Grolier Award for "unusual contributions to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young people" by the ALA that same year. The ALA would also give her an Honorary Life Membership in 1982 "for her many accomplishments on behalf of children and for those professionals who work with children in the United States and throughout the world ... the Association joins her colleagues who have bestowed upon her the rank of Ambassador for Children's Books."

Her "interest and participation in the international arena was ahead of her time and gave the United States an established place in international children's library and literature organizations. She left a worthy legacy for children's literature at the Library of Congress at the culmination of her career." [1]

A list of her memberships: International Board on Books for Children (member of executive board), International Federation of Library Associations (member of executive committee), P.E.N., Authors Guild, Authors League of America (the parent of the Author's Guild), American Library Association (chairman of Children's Library Association, 1954-55, chairman of book evaluation committee, 1962-63), National Council of Administrative Women in Education, National Society of Women Geographers, District of Columbia Library Association, Washington Children's Book Guild, and Pi Lamda Theta.

She died of a stroke in 1988, while she was living in Rockville, Maryland. [2] [3]

Fantasy author Jane Yolen, in a note to Christopher Sirmons Haviland, wrote: "I knew Virginia Haviland... She was funny, acerbic, brilliant, and did not suffer fools at all. She was also gracious, never condescending, and saw her calling (as a librarian) as one of the highest callings of all. Her knowledge of American and British children's literature—and folklore in particular—was encyclopedic. It's been years since she died, but I still think of her."

References to Virginia Haviland can be found in Who's Who in Library Service, Edited by Dorothy Ethlyn Cole, 1955; Who's Who in America, vol. 9, 1985-1989; Something about the Author, vol. 54, 1989; Authors of Books for Young People by Martha E. Ward et al., 1990; Contemporary Authors vol. 124, 1988; Dictionary of American Library Biography, Second Supplement, edited by Donald G. Davis, Jr, 2003; and The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature edited by Bernice E. Cullinan and Diane G. Person, 2001.

Children's book illustrator Armstrong Sperry received a letter from Virginia Haviland in 1972 regarding her speech at the 50th Anniversary of the Newbery Medal. Their letters are posted on the web site maintained by the family of Armstrong Sperry.

According to Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of American Library Biography she was the daughter of William J. and Bertha (Esten) Haviland.

William J. Haviland and Bertha M. Esten can be found in John Cary the Plymouth Pilgrim, by Rev. Seth C. Cary (1911), reporting that William was the son of Edson W. Haviland and Cynthia H. Cary.

Josephine Frost's Haviland Genealogy (1914) also lists a son William for Edson and Cynthia, although she did not list his wife. The rest of Edson Haviland's ancestry is recorded therein. Accordingly, below is Virginia Haviland's descent from Thomas, Sieur De Haveilland, Jurat of Gurensey (1470):

GENERATION	PATERNAL LINE OF DESCENT	Ref
16th Generation 13th Great Gandparents	Thomas DE HAVEILLAND occ. Jurat Of Guernsey cir. 1470	[5]
15th Generation 12th Great Gandparents	James DE HAVEILLAND b. 1450, bp. Guernsey d. 1512 occ. Mayor Of Poole 1494, 1498 & Helena DE BEAUVOIR m. ca 1480	[5]
14th Generation 11th Great Gandparents	John DE HAVEILLAND b. ca 1488 bp. Poole, Dorset, England	[5]
13th Generation 10th Great Gandparents	Christopher HAVILLAND b. 19 Jun 1519, bp. Guernsey d. 24 Jan 1569, dp. Poole, England brp. Parish Of St. James, Poole, England occ. Mayor Of Poole, 1569 (Briefly) & Cecelia MANN d. 26 Aug 1586 m. 16 Sep 1544, mp. Church of St. James, Poole, England	[5]
12th Generation 9th Great Gandparents	James HAVILAND b. 1553, bp. Poole, Dorset, England d. 1613 occ. Mayor Of Salisbury, 1602-03 & Thomassine MAINDONAIL b. ca 1560, bp. England	[5]
11th Generation 8th Great Gandparents	William HAVILAND b. 7 Sep 1606, bp. Salisbury, England d. 1697, dp. Great Neck, Long Island, NY occ. R.I. Freeman 17 May 1653; Commissioner 21 May 1656 & Hannah HICKS b. ca 1638, bp. Newport, RI d. 1 Sep 1688, dp. Great Neck, Long Island, NY m. ca 1652, mp. Newport, RI	[5]
10th Generation 7th Great Gandparents	Benjamin HAVILAND b. 3 Apr 1659, bp. Newport, RI d. 20 Apr 1726, dp. Rye, NY occ. Preacher & Abigail MOTT b. 3 May 1660, bp. Portsmouth, RI d. 4 Jul 1730, dp. Rye, NY mp. Portsmouth, RI	[5]
9th Generation 6th Great Gandparents	Benjamin HAVILAND b. 1690, bp. Flushing, NY d. 16 May 1724, dp. Rye, NY & Charity FARRINGTON	[5]
8th Generation 5th Great Gandparents	Benjamin HAVILAND b. 1719 d. 1760 & Charlotte PARK b. ca 1722, bp. Rye, NY	[5]
7th Generation 4th Great Gandparents	Roger HAVILAND b. 3 Mar 1742, bp. Rye, NY d. 17 Mar 1801, dp. Haviland Hollow, NY occ. Preacher & Elizabeth HARE	[5]
6th Generation 3rd Great Gandparents	Roger HAVILAND b. 11 Mar 1765, bp. Haviland Hollow, Putnam County, NY d. 10 Mar 1854, dp. Queensbury, NY & Hannah WING b. 17 Nov 1764, bp. Dutchess County, NY d. 2 Dec 1838, dp. Glens Falls, NY m. 22 Jul 1783	[5]
5th Generation 2nd Great Gandparents	Roger HAVILAND [portrait] b. 13 Sep 1797, bp. Glens Falls, NY d. 20 Nov 1870, dp. Glens Falls, NY & Ruth SISSON b. 20 Feb 1797, bp. Glens Falls, NY d. 9 Sep 1837, dp. Glens Falls, NY m. 9 May 1818, mp. Queensbury, NY [See their gravestones on this page.]	[5]
4th Generation Great Gandparents	William HAVILAND b. 2 Jul 1827 d. 20 Feb 1887 & Ruth Ann WELLS b. 18 Jun 1832 d. 22 Mar 1866 [See their gravestones on this page.]	[5]
3rd Generation Grandparents	Edson W. HAVILAND b. 1859 d. 1908 & Cynthia H. CARY b. 12 Jan 1861 d. 1945 m. 1879 [See their gravestones on this page.]	[5], [6]
2nd Generation Parents	William J. HAVILAND b. Jul 1883, bp. Bentley Manor, Staten Island, NY & Bertha M. ESTEN	[1], [2], [5], [6]
1st Generation Source	Virginia HAVILAND b. 21 May 1911, bp. Rochester, NY d. 6 Jan 1988, dp. Washington, DC occ. Chief Of Children’s Book Section, Library Of Congress; Fairy Tale Author	[1], [2], [3]

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