John Norris Teunisson, born in Pike County, Mississippi on January 20, 1869, moved to New Orleans 1892 and worked initially as an inspector for the Underwriters Inspection Bureau. The New Orleans city directories do not list him as a photographer until 1901, and the 1900 census gives his profession as "insurance inspector." In 1893, he married Mary Ellen Frost (his marriage announcement states that he was from Summit, Mississippi); the couple had four children, one of whom, Nellie May Teunisson, served for a time as her father's photographic assistant.

Once established, Teunisson had a long career as a photographer in New Orleans. His photographs were widely reproduced during his lifetime in tourist guides to New Orleans, in newspapers, and as postcards. In the 1950s, Teunisson moved to Washington, D.C., where he died on February 8, 1959, at the age of 90. He is buried in Metairie Cemetery.

The New Orleans Public Library's collection of  Teunisson prints include views of the Atlanteans carnival ball of 1940, carnival decorations on downtown streets in 1906, the Fisk Free and Public Library, local hotels (including photographs of drawings of hotels), riverfront scenes, and other miscellaneous local sites. Additional collections of Teunisson photographs can be found  at the Louisiana Digital Library.

Pictured here is Teunisson's 1922 photograph of the F. W. Woolworth's store on Canal at Bourbon streets.

Source: The New Orleans Public Library