Virginia Frances Townsend

Virginia Frances Townsend (1836 – August 11, 1920) was an American author.

Virginia Frances Townsend
Born	1836 New Haven, Connecticut
Died	August 11, 1920[1] Arlington, Massachusetts
Occupation	author

She was editor of Arthur's Lady's Home Magazine and a contributing author to other magazines.^[2] She later taught at Dr. Dio Lewis's School for Young Ladies, where she was an advocate of exercise and physical education for women.^[1] She was a member of the Boston Authors Club.^[3]

A group of librarians in Boston put Townsend's name on a list of authors whose books should be banned from libraries because of "false and dangerous ideas of life" purportedly in the books.^[4]

Selected work

• Only girls (1872) Boston: Lee and Shepard
• That Queer Girl (1874) Boston: Lee & Shepard
• One Woman's Two Lovers (1875) Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott
• A Boston Girl's Ambitions, (1887) Boston: Lee and Shepard; New York: C.T. Dillingham