Born on January 8th 1863 in the town of South Columbia, New York, Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle was destined to become the most prolific postcard and greeting card artist of her time.  A shy and delicate child who loved to draw, she displayed artistic ability from an early age.  She was encouraged in her artistic endeavors by her parents and teachers.

After graduation from the Richfield Springs Seminary in nearby Richfield Springs, New York in1882, she rounded out her art education with a couple of years training at the Cooper Institute in New York City. She then returned home to South Columbia and, after placing an ad in a local paper, began offering painting lessons in her home.

Ellen's father, Dennis L.Clapsaddle, died on January 5th in 1891.  Ellen and her mother then moved in with an aunt in Richfield Springs. Ellen spent her next fourteen years giving art lessons, doing illustrations, landscapes, portraits, and some freelance work through the mail.

A phrase taken from a poem she once wrote her mother, “My heart is a child”, typifies not only her sensitive and artistic nature but also the innocence and joy of life so vividly expressed in her artistic accomplishments. A sense of childlike happiness emanates from both the depths of her personality and its expression in her artistry.

After spending several years in Germany at the expense of International Art Company, Ellen returned to New York around 1906 and was hired by the Wolf Company, a subsidiary of International Art Company. She soon became their sole artist and designer.  Her mother, Harriet (Beckwith) Clapsaddle had died on March 2nd 1905, sadly while Ellen was in Europe.
 
During her time with Wolf, her success reached such a peak that there seemed to be no limit to the growth potential for either the company or the postcard industry. Ellen invested heavily in German postcard firms on the advice of the Wolf brothers, who did likewise. The company was doing so well they sent her to Germany to work with their engravers.

In August, 1914, Ellen was in Germany at the outbreak of World War I. Factories were destroyed, records burned, and messages never received or answered. Almost all of her original art and prints were destroyed during the Great War.  It wasn't long before she became a displaced person, penniless and alone in a foreign land.

Back in the States, the Wolf brothers had been cut off from supplies coming from Germany.  Most firms, Wolf Brothers among them, went out of business or were severely financially handicapped as a result of the war.  At the end of the war, one of the brothers borrowed money and went to Europe in search of Ellen, who was finally found some six months later wandering the streets. Hungry and sick, she barely recognized Mr. Wolf when he approached her. She was 55 years old.

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. Mr. Wolf himself died desolate and poor a few years after bringing Ellen back. She was left alone and mentally incapacitated.

Admitted to the Peabody Home in New York City in January 1932, Ellen had lost all capacity to reason.  She passed away some two years later, on January 7, 1934, one day short of her 69th birthday.  Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle died penniless and alone.  She had never married, and had no sisters or brothers.

It wasn't until after World War II that her body was reinterred, and she found her final resting place next to her parents in Lakeview Cemetery, in Richfield Springs. Her marker simply reads, "ELLEN."

Ellen Clapsaddle’s artistry often evokes the innocence and purity of childhood.  The artistry of her postcards brings back an era much cherished in retrospect for its civility and gentility.  Her life is a story of both success and tragedy – success in the beauty, innocence and expansiveness of her artistry, and tragedy in the destructiveness of war towards all that we hold civilized and dear.

Her story is one all too common amongst artists of all kinds: the rosy, fresh-faced innocence of her girls and young women, which has made her celebrated to this day as the greatest of the pre-war postcard artists, was a painfully ironic contrast to the tragedy of her later years. But how wonderful her work is! There is no doubt that were she alive today she would want us to accept her early images of pretty, childlike joy in the spirit in which they were painted.

Since the GAR was limited to Civil War veterans, its longevity was necessarily limited.  The last GAR annual encampment was held in 1949, and the last Civil War veteran passed away in 1956.

During its heyday, the majority of those who held political office in the northern part of the United States were GAR members.  Its motto was "Fraternity, Charity, Loyalty" (F.C.L.) which appears on much of its regalia.  Fraternity referred to the brotherhood and sisterhood of those who had served together, Charity referred to the work the organization did to ensure the well-being of widows and orphans of veterans as well as the pensions obtained for them, Loyalty referred to loyalty to the Constitution and flag of our country.

Ellen Clapsaddle's life embraced both peacetime and wartime eras.  Given the events of the past year, I thought it appropriate to include some of her art honoring those who gave theirs in defense of their country, and the freedom and values it holds dear. In a very real sense, she was both a veteran and a victim of war too.
Baby Janet