Sunbonnet Girl Postcards

Here is a real photo postcard of a real girl in a sunbonnet that is obviously based on the fictional Sunbonnet Girls that were popular in the early twentieth century. Bertha L. Corbett is the artist credited with creating the original Sunbonnet Girls. Her drawings were first used on postcards in 1904. They earlier had appeared in books in 1900. Corbett first drew the Sunbonnet Girls to prove that it was not necessary to show the face in order to make a figure expressive.

This photo does show the girl's face peeking out of the bottom front of the bonnet. There appear to be some curls hanging out the back too.

The website sunbonnetsue.com has a reprint of a 1907 article about the origins of Corbett's Sunbonnets: The "Mother" of the Sun-Bonnet Babies. Other artists also drew Sunbonnets that were published on postcards. Below is a postcard with a Sunbonnet Girl in a pose similar to the photo. This is by the artist Bernhardt Wall. It was published by Bergman and dated 1913. According to the book "Picture Postcards in the United States 1893-1918 by George and Dorothy Miller: "After the height of the postcard craze, Wall redesigned a group of Sunbonnets against white backgrounds for the Bergman Company in an effort to recapture the popularity of the earlier cards, but the later designs never caught the public imagination."

Coincidentally, this leather postcard featuring a Sunbonnet with "Just a line" is from Minneapolis where Corbett originally created the Sunbonnet characters. I have seen leather postcards with other designs of fishing Sunbonnet Girls with a "line" from other locations or names added. Some are completely handmade like this one. Others have lettering (and possibly designs) that are machine printed.

 

 

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