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''Is There a Santa Claus?'' was the title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897, edition of ''The (New York) Sun''. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States. == 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 O'Hanlon (1889–1971), whether Santa Claus really existed. O'Hanlon suggested she write to ''The Sun (New York)The Sun,'' a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." 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 that 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 page, below even one 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. In 1971, after seeing Virginia's obituary in ''The New York Times'', four friends formed a company, called Elizabeth Press, and published a children's book titled ''Yes, Virginia'' that illustrated the editorial and included a brief history of the main characters. Its creators took it to Warner Brothers who eventually made the Emmy award-winning television show based on the editorial. The History Channel, in a special that aired on February 21, 2001, noted that Virginia gave the original letter to a granddaughter, who pasted it in a scrapbook. It was feared that the letter was destroyed in a house fire, but 30 years later, it was discovered intact. Some people have questioned the veracity of the letter's authorship, expressing doubt that a young girl such as Virginia would refer to children her own age as "my little friends" and speculating that Virginia's father was the actual author. The original letter, however, appeared and was authenticated in 1998 by Kathleen Guzman, an appraiser on the ''Antiques Roadshow'', at $20,000–$30,000. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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