Beatrice Tonnesen never tired of photographing beautiful women and beautiful scenes of family life. Last July, we featured five images of beautiful women, all of which had either found their way into my collection or been confirmed as Tonnesen’s work during 2014.

Here, we present newly found or newly identified images of Tonnesen’s other favorite subject: Children shown at play or with their mothers. The accompanying slideshow contains four newly found images of the 1920s toddler sometimes known as Sunny Jim. The Tonnesen Archives of both Oshkosh Public Museum and Winneconne Historical Society contain several photographs of this child. To read and view more about him/her, see the post “Captivating Toddler a 1920’s Favorite”, 2/28/2011. The fifth image in the slideshow features William Redmond (1910-1992), with two unknown child models. The girl’s dress and William’s outfit can be found in other images by Tonnesen. The identity of the artist who added the beautiful outdoor scene is unknown. It could have been Tonnesen, but the print is unsigned. Sixth in the slideshow, is a lovely mother/child scene from a 1928 calendar, in which two frequent Tonnesen models sit in a chair belonging to Tonnesen. She seems to have loved showing mothers and children enjoying “storytime” together. The last image is titled “Sweet is the Baby’s Waking Smile” shown on a 1924 calendar. Mom’s dress can be seen frequently in other examples of Tonnesen’s work.

Copyright 2014 Lois Emerson