It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 3 May 1888 in Nice.

277 Elvira is possibly named for a character in Alphonse de Lamartine's Méditations poétiques (1820) and Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (1830).

[3] A group of astronomers, including Lucy D’Escoffier Crespo da Silva and Richard P. Binzel, used observations made between 1998 through 2000 to determine the spin-vector alignment of the Koronis family of asteroids, including 277 Elvira.

The collaborative work resulted in the creation of 61 new individual rotation lightcurves to augment previous published observations.

[4] Measurements of the thermal inertia of 277 Elvira give a value of around 190 J m−2 K−1 s−1/2, compared to 50 for lunar regolith and 400 for coarse sand in an atmosphere.