Ellen H Clapsaddle
1865-1934
Ellen graduated from Richfield Springs Seminary, New York, in 1882 and followed with a couple of years at the Cooper Institute in New York City for art training.
After the purchase and use of several of Ellen's designs, International Art
offered Ellen a paid two-year trip abroad for her and her mother. There she
would study and refine her art talents at the parent company and be closer
to the actual manufacturer of paper goods.
The Wolf Company, an outlet for International Art, hired her when she got
to New York around 1906. That's when her post cards first began to be published
and exclusively by Wolf.
Ellen was forty years when she accepted the full time position with Wolf Company. She had been freelancing for International Art for six years.
During the eight years with Wolf, her success had reached such a peak that there seemed to be no limit to the growth potential for her, the company, or the post card industry. Ellen invested heavily into German post card industries upon the advise of the Wolf brothers who did the same. The company was doing so well they sent her to Germany to work with the their engravers.
In August 1914, Ellen was in Germany and got caught up in the outbreak of World War 1. Factories were burned, records destroyed, and messages never received. It wasn't long before she became a displaced person, penniless and alone in a foreign land.
The Wolf brothers were completely wiped out having been cut off from supplies coming from Germany. One of the brothers borrowed the last bit of money left and went to Europe in search of Ellen, Six months later, she was finally found walking the streets, hungry, sick and alone at the age of fifty-one. She barely recognized Mr. Wolf when he approached her.
Wolf brought her back to New York where he could take care of her. She no longer had the ability to earn a living and her health declined rapidly. Her mother died while Ellen was in Europe and Mr. Wolf died desolate and poor a few years after bringing her back. No one knows how long she lived alone mentally incapacitated.
On January 27, 1932, Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle was admitted to the Peabody
Home on Pelham Parkway in New York City.
Ellen had lost all mental reason and sat and played with toys until her death
two years later.
Ellen never married, had no sisters or brothers, and spent one half of her life illustrating for a small group of people.
It wasn't until after World War II that she would find her resting place
next to her parents in Lakeview Cemetery in Richfield Springs. Her marker
is at her feet and simple says, "ELLEN." International Art Publishing
continued to produce Clapsaddle cards after Wolf Company folded.
Series |
Cards |
1 |
|
3 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
5 |
|
2 |
Fronts |
|
 |
 |
International Art -Irish
|
S Garre - Irish |
Fronts |
 |
1111 |
 |
1451 |
 |
1946 |
Fronts |
 |
1254 |
 |
1910 |
 |
International Art -Xmas |