Vintage 1908 Ellen Clapsaddle St Patricks Day Postcard

This is a beautiful 1908 vintage used Ellen Clapsaddle St Patricks Day postcard depicting a lovely young lady with red hair and rosy cheeks dressed in a vibrant emerald green dress and hat carrying a basket of shamrocks with the greeting
"And it's O, the Green Shamrock"

It is addressed to Miss Eda Kane from Mrs DeVaney and Helen.

There are no rips or tears only a slight rubbing on left lower corner as seen in pictures.
It measures 5 1/2" x 3 1/2".

The Years from 1900-1918 are known to collectors as the "Golden Age of Postcards" and during this period, people sent postcards for any occasion!!!

Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle was an American illustrator/commercial artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Not only is her style greatly admired and well recognized, today she is recognized as the most prolific souvenir/postcard and greeting card artist of her era.

Clapsaddle's illustrations are favorites of many, and she published more than three thousand signed postcards and designed countless more unsigned pictures.  Over half of her illustrations are of children, and the rest are more general scenes.  She was born the year the Civil War ended, an only child, attended a country school and graduated from Richfield Springs Seminary, New York, in 1882.  A self-taught artist, she gave private painting lessons until she attended Cooper Institute in New York City. There, she contracted to work for the International Art Company (IAC), and relocated to Germany to design articles as diverse as porcelain, calendars and greeting cards.  She returned to the U.S. in 1906 to become principal artist for the Wolf Company, a subsidiary of IAC.  

She was a very prolific artist, and her designs reflect the entire spectrum of seasonal and holiday themes, drawing upon folklore, traditions, games and nursery rhymes.  Unlike other artists whose illustrations were adapted for postcards, Clapsaddle designed specifically for the medium.  

During the height of her career with IAC, she invested her earnings in the booming German postcard industry. While on a business trip to Germany in August of 1914, World War I broke out.  In the confusion and destruction, Clapsaddle became stranded and ultimately destitute.  One of the Wolf Company partners went to Germany and, after a six month search, found her in poor health.  She returned safely to the U.S., but her health declined and she lost the ability to work. She died thirteen years later at the Peabody Home in New York.