THE STORY BEGINS.....Ellen Clapsaddle was born January 8, 1865 in South Columbia, New York.  She graduated from Richfield springs Seminary, New York, in 1882 and followed with a few years at the Cooper Institutde in New York City for art training.  She spent  her early years teaching art and doing illustrations, landscapes, portaits and some free lance work.  International Art Company purchased several of her designs. 

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The Story Continues.....Eventually, International Art Company paid for Ellen and her Mother to study in Germany.  Upon, returning to the United States in 1906 Ellen was hired by the Wolf Company, a subsidiary of International Art Company.  At a time when few women were hired as illustrators, Ellen, now 40 soon became their sole artist and designer.

Upon the advice of the Wolf brothers, Ellen invested heavily into German postcard industries.  The company was doing so well they sent her to Germany to work with 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.