The Faceless Charmer: Bertha Corbett Melcher’s Little Susie Sunbonnet

Bertha Corbett Melcher’s Little Susie Sunbonnet stands as one of the most beloved and enduring creations in the history of American children’s illustration, a work that gave visual form to a character whose influence would extend far beyond the printed page. Published in 1907, this volume emerged from a singular artistic challenge that would ultimately define its creator’s career and inspire generations of quilters, collectors, and illustrators to come.

The origins of Little Susie Sunbonnet trace back to 1897, when Bertha Louise Corbett—later Melcher—began drawing what would become her signature characters . The distinctive style, in which the faces of her child figures are entirely concealed by oversized sunbonnets, arose from a friendly artistic challenge. As Melcher herself later recounted, she created the faceless figures in “answer to a friend’s challenge to convey emotion without a face”. While family lore offers an alternative version—that her mother suggested covering faces to avoid the difficulty of drawing them—Melcher maintained that the concealing bonnets allowed her to communicate entirely through posture and gesture, a testament to her skill as a draftsman . The first book, The Sun-Bonnet Babies, appeared in 1900, introducing readers to the two girls who would become known as May and Sue.

The success of the initial volume led to a fruitful collaboration with author Eulalie Osgood Grover, who wrote the texts for subsequent primers published by Rand McNally of Chicago. The Sunbonnet Babies books became widely used as reading primers in primary schools across the American Midwest, their gentle illustrations guiding young readers through lessons in literacy and geography alike. Grover’s stories followed May and Sue on adventures that extended to Holland, Italy, and Switzerland, the books often used alongside geography texts to teach children about faraway lands . In 1905, Melcher created a companion series, The Overall Boys, featuring a male version of the faceless characters.

Melcher’s illustrations are characterized by their remarkable clarity of line and subtle use of pastel color. The figures are rendered with a simplicity that belies their expressive power—heads bowed in thought, small hands clasped in anticipation, aproned skirts swaying with motion. Without the aid of facial features, Melcher conveyed the full range of childhood emotion through posture alone, a technical achievement that contemporary art historians have recognized as an early example of American Modernist sensibility.

The popularity of the Sunbonnet Babies extended far beyond the books themselves. Melcher established the Sunbonnet Babies Company and opened a studio to produce merchandise ranging from postcards and valentines to china and advertising materials . The Royal Bayreuth Company of Germany produced a celebrated line of porcelain figurines and children’s dishes featuring the characters, including a popular “days of the week” series. By the 1910s, the image had migrated to quilt patterns, appearing in the Ladies Home Journal and becoming one of the most enduring motifs in American textile art under the name Sunbonnet Sue.

Today, Little Susie Sunbonnet holds a cherished place in the history of American illustration and folk art. Melcher’s creation—born of a simple artistic challenge—became a cultural phenomenon that transcended its origins as a children’s book character. The faceless figure in her oversized bonnet remains instantly recognizable, a testament to the power of visual simplicity and the enduring appeal of childhood innocence rendered with artistry and imagination.

Recommended for collectors:

• The Sunbonnet Babies Primer (1902) by Eulalie Osgood Grover, illustrated by Bertha Corbett – Introduces the Sunbonnet Babies in an educational setting with similar charming imagery.
• The Twins and Tabiffa (1911) by Lucy Fitch Perkins – Early 20th-century children’s book with gentle domestic storytelling and expressive illustrations.
• Peter Rabbit’s Painting Book (1911) by Beatrix Potter – Combines storytelling with illustration and interactivity, perfect for fans of nostalgic children’s literature.

Art Gallery: Bertha Corbett Melcher – Little Susie Sunbonnet