Virginia Haviland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Virginia Haviland
Virginia Haviland around 1935
Born	(1911-05-21)21 May 1911 Rochester, New York, US
Died	6 January 1988(1988-01-06) (aged 76) Washington, D.C., US
Nationality	American
Occupation	Author, Editor, Librarian
Employer	Library of Congress
Known for	Edited "Favorite Fairy Tales Around the World" series; Founded Children's Book Section at Library of Congress
Relatives	Co-founders of Haviland China (cousins) Willis Haviland Carrier (cousin) Willis Bradley Haviland (cousin)

Virginia Haviland (born May 21, 1911 – died January 6, 1988) was an American librarian and writer. She became a world expert in children's books. She led the important Newbery-Caldecott Award Committee. She also traveled a lot and wrote many books. Haviland is famous for her Favorite Fairy Tales series. These books shared stories from sixteen different countries.

Virginia Haviland's Life and Career

Virginia Haviland was born in Rochester, New York. Her parents were William J. Haviland and Bertha M. Esten. She grew up mostly in Massachusetts. As a child, she traveled to other countries. She also spent time with two aunts who welcomed visitors from all over the world. These early experiences likely made her interested in travel and working with people from different countries later in life.

Becoming a Children's Librarian

Virginia Haviland earned a degree in economics and mathematics from Cornell University in 1933. In 1934, she became a children's librarian at the Boston Public Library. She learned from Alice Jordan, who started children's services there. Haviland worked as a branch librarian and children's librarian in Boston from 1948 to 1952. She then became a reader's adviser for children from 1952 to 1963. She also studied folklore at Harvard University.

Sharing Her Knowledge

In 1949, Haviland gave a special lecture called the Hewins Lecture. This lecture was about the history of children's literature. She spoke about travel books for children from the 1800s. She also taught classes on library service and reading guidance for children at Simmons College from 1957 to 1962. Today, there is a Virginia Haviland Scholarship at Simmons College. For about 30 years, she wrote reviews for The Horn Book Magazine, which is a well-known magazine about children's books.

Leading in Children's Literature

Virginia Haviland was a leader in many important groups. She chaired the Children's Services Division of the American Library Association (ALA) from 1954 to 1955. In this role, she attended conferences for international organizations. These included the International Board on Books for Children (now called the International Board on Books for Young People).

She also led the Newbery-Caldecott Award Committee of the ALA from 1953 to 1954. These awards are very important for children's books in the United States. She held many other leadership roles in national and international groups. She was on many committees that chose outstanding children's books. Her main belief was: "The right book for the right child at the right time." She had high standards for judging children's literature.

Haviland also judged several other book awards. These included the New York Herald Tribune Children's Spring Book Festival Awards and the International Hans Christian Andersen Award. She helped start the Washington Post Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award.

Founding the Children's Literature Center

In 1962, Virginia Haviland was asked to create a special center for children's literature. This center was at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. She became its first Head in 1963. She worked for the Library of Congress until she retired in 1981.

A famous author named Jane Yolen wrote about Virginia Haviland. Yolen said, "She was funny, brilliant, and didn't put up with nonsense. She was also kind and never talked down to people. She saw her job as a librarian as one of the most important jobs. Her knowledge of American and British children's books, especially fairy tales, was amazing."

Virginia Haviland passed away from a stroke on January 6, 1988, in Washington, D.C.

Awards and Lasting Impact

Virginia Haviland received many honors for her work. In 1976, the Catholic Library Association gave her the Regina Medal. This award is for "continuous distinguished contribution to children's literature." The American Library Association also gave her the Grolier Award that same year. This was for her "unusual contributions to helping children and young people love reading."

In 1982, the ALA made her an Honorary Life Member. This was to recognize her many achievements for children. It also honored her work with professionals who help children with books in the U.S. and around the world. The ALA called her an "Ambassador for Children's Books."

Her interest in international children's books was ahead of her time. She helped the United States become an important part of international children's library and literature groups. She left a valuable legacy for children's literature at the Library of Congress when her career ended.

Virginia Haviland's Fairy Tale Series

In the 1950s, Virginia Haviland was a pioneer. She tried to gather international fairy tales into a series of books that were easier for children to read. While she was still a librarian in Boston, she suggested her Favorite Fairy Tales series to a publisher. The publisher, Little, Brown and Company, accepted her idea. They published her books in hardcover from about 1959 to 1971. The books were later re-released in paperback in the mid-1990s.

To create her series, Virginia Haviland traveled around the world. She met with librarians, authors, and experts in fairy tales. The series includes stories from sixteen different countries. These include Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, India, France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Japan, Scotland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Spain, and Russia.

Some of these old stories might seem a bit strong or imaginative today. But they often show the deepest hopes and dreams of people. Virginia Haviland was also a careful researcher. She loved old books. Most of the stories she put in her series came from her diligent search through old collections.

In 1985, Little, Brown and Company also published a single book. It was a collection of stories from her series called Favorite Fairy Tales Told Around the World.

Haviland also put together The Fairy Tale Treasury (1972) and The Mother Goose Treasury (1966). Both of these books were illustrated by Raymond Briggs. The Mother Goose Treasury won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1966.

Other Works by Virginia Haviland

• Haviland, Virginia (editor). The Fairy Tale Treasury. Illustrated by Raymond Briggs. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1972.
• Andersen, Hans Christian. The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories. Translated by Eric Christian Haugaard. Foreword by Virginia Haviland. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1974.
• Haviland, Virginia (editor). The Openhearted Audience: Ten Authors Talk about Writing for Children. Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1980. This book included talks from famous authors like P. L. Travers and Maurice Sendak.
• Haviland, Virginia and Margaret N. Coughlan. Yankee Doodle's Literary Sampler of Prose, Poetry & Pictures. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1974. This was an anthology of old works for young readers.
• Haviland, Virginia (editor). North American Legends. New York: Putnam Pub Group Juv, 1981.
• Haviland, Virginia (editor). Children & Poetry: A Selective Annotated Bibliography. Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1969.
• Haviland, Virginia. William Penn: Founder and Friend. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1952.
• Haviland, Virginia. Children and Literature Views and Reviews. Scott, Foresman, 1973.
• Haviland, Virginia. The Stone of Victory and Other Tales of Padraic Colum. New York: McGraw Hill, 1966.
• Bechtel, Louise Seaman. Books in Search of Children – Speeches and Essays by Louise Seaman Bechtel. Edited by Virginia Haviland. New York: MacMillan, 1969.
• Elleman, Barbara and Virginia Haviland. Children's Books of International Interest. Chicago: American Library Association, 1972.
• Haviland, Virginia. Children's Literature – A Guide to Reference Sources. Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1966.
• Haviland, Virginia. Ruth Sawyer, a Walck Monograph. New York: Henry Z. Walck, 1965.
• Field, Carolyn W., Virginia Haviland, Elizabeth Nesbitt. Subject Collections in Children's Literature. American Library Association, 1969.
• Haviland, Virginia and Margaret N. Coughland. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a Centennial for Tom Sawyer, an Annotated Selected Bibliography. Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1976.
• Haviland, Virginia (editor). The Best Children's Books: 1964–1978 With 1979 Addenda. Illustrated by Debbie Dieneman. New York: University Press Books, 1981.
• Blishen, Edward and Nancy. A Treasury of Stories For Five Year Olds. Illustrated by Polly Noakes. (Includes "The Cat and the Parrot" by Virginia Haviland.) New York: Kingfisher, 1989.