[7][8]Virginia Haviland died of a stroke on January 6, 1988, in Washington, D.C.[1][3][5] Her commitment to literature for young people continues to be recognized by the Virginia Haviland Scholarship for students in the Master of Arts in Children's Literature programs in the Ifill College at Simmons University.

"[2] In the 1950s, Virginia Haviland was a pioneer in attempting to collect international fairy tales into a series of volumes that were more accessible to children.

While still a Boston librarian, Haviland submitted a proposal for her Favorite Fairy Tales series to Little, Brown and Company, who accepted and published her books in hard cover ca 1959–71.

The collection includes: In 1985, Little, Brown and Company also published a single-volume sampling of her series called Favorite Fairy Tales Told Around the World.

The tales would be published in slim volumes, with wide margins and ample leading, and illustrated by a cast of contemporary artists.

| The series embraces the stories of sixteen different countries: Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, India, France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Japan, Scotland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Spain and Russia.

Some of these stories may seem violent or fantastical to our modern sensibilities, yet they often reflect the deepest yearnings and imaginings of the human mind and heart.

Virginia Haviland traveled abroad frequently and was able to draw upon librarians, storytellers, and writers in countries as far away as Japan to help her make her selections.

But she was also an avid researcher with a keen interest in rare books, and most of the stories she included in the series were found through a diligent search of old collections.

Ms. Haviland remained with the Library of Congress for nearly twenty years, and wrote and lectured about children's literature throughout her career.