Ellen Clapsaddle

Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle (January 8 1863 – January 7 1934) was the most prolific postcard and greeting card artist of her era. [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-107418201.html Picking Through Old Postcards, "HELAINE FENDELMAN and JOE ROSSON, Scripps Howard News Service"] ]

Because of the impact of World War I on the postcard industry (most illustrated postcards were printed in Germany), sending illustrated postcards fell out of fashion just after the war started and never fully recovered.

Childhood

Ellen was born on January 8 1863 (some sources say 1865) [ [http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/clapsadle.htm "My Heart is a Child", "Emotions Greeting Cards"] ] in South Columbia, New York. She was "a shy and delicate child who loved to draw," and who displayed artistic ability from an early age. Her parents and teachers encouraged her to develop her talent.

Art Education

Ellen graduated from the Richfield Springs Seminary in Richfield Springs, New York in 1882, and then attended the Cooper Institute in New York City for two years. She then returned home to South Columbia and began her career of teaching art out of her home.

Career

Dennis L. Clapsaddle died on January 5, 1891. Ellen and her mother then moved in with an aunt in Richfield Springs. Ellen spent her next fourteen years not only giving art lessons, but also creating and selling illustrations, landscapes, and portraits. (Her mother, Harriet (Beckwith) Clapsaddle would die on March 2, 1905, while Ellen was in Germany.) [ [http://www.petticoated.com/clapsaddle.htm "The Art of Ellen Clapsaddle", "Petticoat Education"] ]

Ellen spent some years in Germany, funded by the International Art Company, and then returned to New York in about 1906. She was hired by the Wolf Company, a subsidiary of the International Art Company, and soon became their sole artist and designer. The postcard and greeting card business was doing well, and Ellen was making good money -- which she invested in German postcard firms on the advice of the Wolf brothers, who followed their own example.

August, 1914

The Wolf company sent Ellen to Germany to work with their engravers, and she was there at the outbreak of what would become World War I. Although the United States did not enter the war until 1917, Ellen was unable to leave the country, and when the engraving company went under, so did her finances - never to recover. [ [http://www.petticoated.com/clapsaddle.htm "The Art of Ellen Clapsaddle", "Petticoat Education"] ]

Post-war

In the United States, the war had wreaked havoc with various firms that had their printing done in Germany. Many post card companies had gone out of business by 1915, including the Wolf Company, because all of their printing had been done in Germany.

After the war, one of the Wolf brothers went to Europe in search of Ellen, and found her after six months, her health irretrievably broken at the age of 55.

The Wolf brothers took care of Ellen as long as they were able, but when they died she was penniless, alone, and mentally incapacitated.

She was admitted to the Peabody Home in New York City in January 1932 and died two years later.

Reinterment

Some time after World War II, her body was reinterred next to her parents in Lakeview Cemetery, in Richfield Springs. Her marker reads, "ELLEN."

Bibliography

Ellen Clapsaddle's name appears in newspaper and magazines whenever they are discussing the postcards and greeting cards collectibles market.

Her work appears in any collection of vintage postcard art, or discussions of that art:

*"Halloween Postcard Book, by Ellen Clapsaddle and others", Applewood Books (10 pages) 2004
*"Ellen H. Clapsaddle signed post cards: An illustrated reference guide" by Ellen H Budd , EH Budd, 194 pages 1989
*"The Official Guide to Flea Market Prices", 2nd edition, by Harry Rinker, House of Collectibles, 512 pages, 2004
*"Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween" by David J. Skal , 256 pages. 2002

References