Tunis, Edwin, 1897-1973

Edwin Tunis was born in Cold Springs Harbor, N.Y., on Dec. 8, 1897. He studied at City College in Baltimore and the Maryland Institute of Art and Design. He served as a pilot during World War II and then returned to Maryland Institute where he worked as a furniture designer and in advertising drawing layout copy. His typographical design talent led to work for printers (brochures and direct mail material) and later to illustrating for Grosset and Dunlop and A.P. Putnam's Sons. For Maryland's Tercentenary in 1934, he designed a commemorative stamp and drew a literary and historical mural map of the state, which was later shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He then became a radio announcer in Baltimore at WBAL, while continuing his second career, which had begun in 1918, as performer and stage and program designer with the Vagabond Players, a local theater group. This association lasted until 1938 when Edwin Tunis and his wife, Elizabeth, whom he married in 1927, moved to a house in the country, which he had designed himself, "Long Last." World War II found him working in the engineering dept. of Black and Decker in Towson, N.J. In 1943, he was commissioned by McCormick and Co. of Baltimore to paint a mural depicting the history of spices. This 145-foot mural took two and a half years to complete; his research for the project led to his first book Oars, sail and steam, which the American Institute of Graphic Arts voted as one of the 50 Books of the Year and one of the Best Juvenile Books of 20 Years. He then embarked his final career as a writer and illustrator; notable later works include Wheels (Boys' Club of America Junior Book Award, 1955), Colonial living (Thomas A. Edison Foundation Award, 1957), Frontier living (first runner-up for Newbery Medal, 1962), and Shaw's fortune : the picture story of a colonial plantation (cited by the New York times as one of the ten best illustrated books of 1966). Edwin Tunis died in 1973.

Edwin Burdett Tunis was born in Cold Spring Harbor, New York in 1897. He attended the Maryland Institute of Art and Design and became a noted author and illustrator of children's books, most of which focus on history or the beginnings of industry. A number of his books have received awards, including Frontier Living which was named a Newbery Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children's Book in 1962. Biographical source: Something About the Author, vol. 24 and 28.

Edwin Tunis was born in Cold Springs Harbor, New York, on December 8, 1897. His education, in his own words, was “patchy from the start,” due to his father's work, which was setting up steam driven electrical power plants in the smaller towns where the new electric lightning was coming into demand. “The installation of a ponderous Corliss engine belted, about seventy-five feet of leather, to a generator, took a year or so. When a job was finished the family moved to the next town.” Edwin Tunis entered the City College in Baltimore and studied there for three years before transferring to the Maryland Institute of Art and Design. His course there was interrupted by World War I, in which he served as a pilot with a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant. After the war, he returned to the Maryland Institute as a part-time student, while working at C.S. Benson and Company as a furniture designer. Subsequently, he worked for the Manufacturers’ Record in the advertising department drawing layout copy, and at a newly formed advertising agency, where he was “the whole art department.” When the latter failed, he became a free-lancer. “As a commercial artist I lacked the ‘snappy’ style beloved of advertising agents, but I could draw furniture, architecture, and historical stuff, so I made out well enough.” His typographical design talent led to work for printers (brochures and direct mail material) and later to illustrating for Grosset and Dunlop and A. P. Putnam’s Sons. For Maryland’s Tercentenary in 1934, he designed a commemorative stamp and drew a literary and historical mural map of the state, which was later shown at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

In the wake of the depression, when demand for commercial artists was at its ebb, Edwin Tunis became a radio announcer in Baltimore at WBAL. He also continued his second “career,” which had begun in 1918, as performer and stage and program designer with the Vagabond Players, a local theater group. This association lasted until 1938 when Edwin Tunis and his wife, Elizabeth, whom he married in 1927, moved to a house I the country, which he had designed himself, “Long Last.”

World War II found him working in the engineering department of Black and Decker in Towson. In 1943, he was commissioned by McCormick and Company of Baltimore to paint a mural depicting the history of spices. This 145-foot mural took two and a half years to complete. He discovered while researching the material for this project that “there was no one book which recounted the whole basic story of the development of ships in a simple way that might interest young people. An outline, a dummy, some pages of text, and one finished illustration went to a literary agent who sold Oars, Sail and Steam within a week.” Voted to be the American Institute of Graphic Arts as one of the 50 Books of the Year and one of the Best Juvenile Books of 20 Years, Oars, Sails and Steam launched his career as writer and illustrator. It was followed by Weapons, 1954; Wheels, 1955; Colonial Living (winner of the Thomas A. Edison Foundation Children’s Book Award for special excellence in portraying America’s past), 1957; Indians, 1959; Frontier Living, (first runner-up for the American Library Association’s Newberry Medal, 1961; Colonial Craftsmen, 1965; Shaw’s Fortune, 1966; The Young United States, (first runner-up for the National Book Award), 1969; Chipmunks on the Doorstep, 1971; The Tavern at the Ferry, (one of the A.L.A.’s Notable Books), 1973.

In “Some Problems of a Writer-Illustrator,” written for the Hornbook in 1966, Edwin Tunis described the painstaking care that went into the production of his books from the researching in museums and libraries to the drawing of pleasing, but primarily explanatory illustrations, to the laborious assembling of the dummy. The result is well-expressed in an editorial from the Baltimore Evening Sun, August 8, 1973: “The best of it was that Edwin Tunis never sought to impose his own personality, to distort with his own image or philosophy. Here was a man who somehow united the opposites, art and history.”

Edwin Burdett Tunis was born in Cold Spring Harbor, New York in 1897. He attended the Maryland Institute of Art and Design and became a noted author and illustrator of children's books, most of which focus on history or the beginnings of industry. A number of his books have received awards, including Frontier Living which was named a Newbery Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children's Book in 1962.

Biographical source: Something About the Author, vol. 24 and 28.