Postcrossing Blog

Today we bring you the story of a stationery maker from another era… you’ve probably seen her designs in vintage cards floating around on Ebay – today we bring you the story behind them! :)

Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle was an American illustrator and the most prolific postcard and greeting card artist of her time. She was born in 1865 in South Columbia, New York, about 200 miles from New York City. From an early age she displayed great artistic ability. Encouraged by her parents and teachers to develop her skills, she eventually pursued a career in art. After finishing her studies at Cooper Union Institute for the Advancement of Science and Art, a well-renowned and competitive college for artists, she returned to South Columbia and began giving art lessons out of her home.

While earning a living, she also painted in her free time, creating landscapes and commissioned portraits of families in Richfield Springs. She began to submit her work to publishers in NYC and quickly became known for her illustrations that were used in advertising, calendars, paper fans, and greeting cards, where she gained her most success. Eventually, her artwork was turned into single-faced cards that could be kept as souvenirs or used as postcards. She began to design her illustrations particularly for these increasingly popular cards.

In 1906, the Wolf Company hired her at a time where very few women artists were hired as illustrators. Clapsaddle initially produced her postcards under Wolf’s name and in time became their sole postcard designer. The golden age of these postcards ranged from 1898 to 1915, and Clapsaddle is attributed to creating over 3,000 designs during this time.

Her images express an innocence and joie de vivre that is very childlike in nature. The main themes of her cards are centered on holidays. Her Halloween cards are the most highly prized by collectors; the Christmas cards usually feature children, but sometimes include transportation designs of automobiles and airplanes of that time period; Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s, and Fourth of July themes were also frequently incorporated in her illustrations.

Check out some classic Ellen Clapsaddle cards here!

PS – PostEurop’s Europa Stamp competition ends this week – don’t forget to vote for your favourite stamp! :)

Mail can be moved in many different ways, as the newest series of Europa stamps shows… but did you know that this process was once done with the help of wagons that whizzed by in a metal tunnel, deep underneath the bustling streets of London?

We’re talking about the UK's Post Office Underground Railway, charmingly later referred to as Mail Rail, a driverless electric underground railway system used to move post between sorting offices in London. It was constructed throughout the 1910s and 1920s with combined efforts of the Post Office and the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, inspired by the Chicago Tunnel Company’s underground railway freight tunnel network.

Rail Mail tunnel, by Richard Pope, on Flickr.

The railway began its operations on December 3rd, 1927. It ran from east to west and stretched six and a half miles between the East End and Paddington. Consisting of eight stations, the largest existed below Mount Pleasant. At its peak, a new train of mail arrived at the station every six minutes. Employees had to work very quickly in order to remove all the mail whose destination was Mount Pleasant and load any mail destined for other offices. There was a great camaraderie between staff members, who generally spent their entire careers working on the system. You can see evidence of this from the relics left behind on walls near major mailbag chutes: a dartboard, finished paintings, and a collection of stamps.

Only three other cities attempted an underground postal railway: Munich, Germany in 1910, Lucerne, Switzerland in 1927, and Zurich, Switzerland in 1937. All closed their operations in the 80’s. The Chicago Tunnel Company sometimes delivered parcels, but its main function was not associated with the Post Office.

By 2003, only three stations of London’s Post Office Underground Railway remained. Royal Mail had reported that using Mail Rail cost five times more than using road transport for the same task, and so, after 75 years of operation, the railway shut down on May 31st, 2003. Today, the British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA) has been undertaking efforts to conserve parts of the Mail Rail.

Rail Mail wagons, by Yuriy Akopov on Flickr.

You can learn more about their endeavors and about the railway itself at the BPMA Museum’s Mail Rail page and fantastic Flickr gallery. If you’re in the area, they currently have a free photography exhibition about the Mail Rail that you can visit!

I must confess that our jaws dropped when we received this report… as if Paris wasn’t stunning enough, Petitpilote managed to take the little ones on her flights with her, show them around the biggest airplane in the world and visit another 2 cities in the US!! Read on, for another adventure-filled report! :)

So if you’ve read our previous report, you know we were about to board a plane with our host Petitpilote, who is an air hostess on long haul flights.

July was her stand-by duty month so she could fly anywhere and the destinations would all be surprises both for her and for us! What a great experience! We always travel into envelopes and this time, we have flown inside a plane and seen the world around! And the first destination was…

… Boston, charming city of the USA!

Largest city and capital of Massachusetts, Boston was founded in 1630 and is one of the oldest towns of the United States. With many colleges and universities, the city is an international hub of education and a major cultural center as well. This is from the balcony of the Old State House in Boston that Thomas Jefferson read the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

The stopover was very short and by happy chance the hotel located downtown, convenient for a quick sightseeing around. We walked through the Little Italy district and then straight to the Marina to enjoy the waterfront atmosphere.

Weather was fair, lots of little boats were preparing for some sea trip. Looking through the spyglass, we have imagined incredible buccaneers and pirate adventures!

The second destination was Washington D.C.! The capital of the USA!

We were fortunate to fly into the big Airbus A380. Woooow… A double-deck airliner, the biggest plane in the world with 24 crew members and 516 passengers! And two little free-riders of course! :D

The Captain invited us to join the cockpit during the flight; we could sit on the instruments panel and experience interesting moments and a beautiful balcony view.

And while the ocean was evaporating at high speed under our wings, our host and his colleagues were ensuring the comfort and safety of passengers in the cabin.

Washington, here we are! No time to have some rest. Our host had again a busy schedule for us! For the first step, we have visited the National Postal Museum!

Image on the right by AgnosticPreachersKid at Wikipedia.

Dedicated to the postal history of the United States, the Museum offers many interactive displays and a big room with a permanent exhibit “moving the mail”.

On the road, through the rail and airmail, we have explored more than three centuries of postal old days. What a brilliant place! We have met lots of other international postboxes from the past!

There are many American institutions in Washington, such as the White House which is the official residence of the President…

… but also the Capitol where the Congress sits as well as the Supreme Court and other federal agencies.

After a delightful promenade under an agreeable sun, we made some stops in front of these remarkable spots. In the morning, with a head full of unforgettable memories, we left Washington back to France. We can’t wait to join our next adventure! Au revoir and see you soon!

Our huuuge thank you to Petitpilote for these wonderful reports! Never in a million years would we have imagined that the little ones would get to see the inside of a A380's cockpit! :D Onwards they go…

PS – Curious to know who won last weekend’s giveaway? The results are on the bottom of the Green Banana Card’s post!

Oh là là! We couldn’t believe our eyes when we received the latest missive from the Little Mail Carriers… they were in Paris! :D Their host, PetitPilote did a fantastic job of showing them around the City of Light… read all about it below!

Summer is finally settled in Europe: temperatures are very pleasant and the sun shines every day! Many greetings from France!

We arrived at the beginning of July in Survilliers, a small village located 30 km north of Paris. We were really excited because it was our first trip to France! Our host didn’t waste time and organized a mini meeting with nearby French postcrossers.

We all met at Montmartre on a lovely Monday morning and the visit started with some souvenirs shops. We couldn’t miss the local macaroon stand too! The sales lady was kind enough to let us pose into the display case. There were tons of aromas and the pink one raspberry flavored seemed to be really delicious!

Then, following our touristic upward walk on Steinkerque Street, we saw the white dome of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, sitting at the highest point of the city. This is a beautiful Roman Church built between 1875 and 1914 and this is Montmartre’s most recognizable landmark.

And after the effort, relaxation! We found a table just in front of the Sacré-Cœur, perfect to enjoy the view and finally taste the colorful and yummy macaroons! We wrote a few meet-up cards and then made some pictures with Lauliz, Glumuke and her son Antoine by the monument.

We couldn’t leave the area without wandering the streets to discover the attractive village atmosphere of Montmartre. We took this opportunity to make a quick snapshot in front of Abbesses underground station and its old style entrance from 1900. Also along with the local yellow mailbox!

Our visit of Paris then led us to the Eiffel Tower! Located on the Champ de Mars, the tower was created by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. 324 meters tall, the tower has three levels for visitors easy to reach by lift or stairs.

No tickets needed for us, we found an effortless way to climb up “the Iron Lady”! See for yourself!

Not far from the tower, on the other side of the Seine River to the north, the Arc de Triomphe was waiting for us for a last souvenir picture. Standing in the center of the Place de l’Etoile, this majestic 50 meters tall monument was built between 1806 and 1836 under the authority of Napoleon. And it wasn’t the last time we would see the Arc…

Let’s jump to July, 14th! This is Bastille Day in France, the national day! The day begins with the Military parade with French and invited troops as well as aircrafts flying above the Arc. Other celebrations are organized like popular balls, concerts and everywhere at night, impressive fireworks are displayed!

Survilliers also had its own! We could attend the firework and celebrate, at the same time, Postcrossing 8th birthday!

The following days were devoted to discover our host’s job. She is an air hostess on long haul flights and she decided to take us travelling with her… how exciting!! Want to find out where we’ve been? Check back in a couple of days for the rest of our travelling adventures! :)

Ever wanted to send someone a whale? A bear? Or perhaps a big cuddly moose? We all know how impractical that can be… and don’t even get me started on customs and security!

So I was very relieved the other day when I found out about Green Banana Cards – the perfect postcard solution for the hassle of shipping big animals!

Cute, right? :)

Virginie St-Jean is the designer behind Green Banana Cards project. She started in 2008 with the Mail a Moose design as a greeting card… but eventually realized there was a much higher demand for postcards! So she switched to the postcard format, and has been steadily introducing new animals to her collection since then. You can send 14 different animals across the world! :)

How did you get started doing stationery design?

I love everything that has to do with printed art. However, since it’s an art that’s been declining in popularity with the general public, I thought the best way to go about it was to create something out of the ordinary, so that even people who might not usually buy postcards would be tempted because of the novelty factor.

Where do you find your inspiration?

I have always loved drawing animals, and after spending some time in the Yukon, I was trying to think of a product that I could sell there. That’s how I thought of creating the Mail a Moose design. Most of my designs are iconic Canadian animals, but I’m also inspired by animals that tourists in other countries might be interested in mailing back home. I printed southern US animals like a gator and a manatee recently, and I plan to introduce an Australian animal collection by next summer. I also regularly work on custom orders, such as a Guernsey Cow for the Island of Guernsey, UK and a T-Rex and Mammoth for Canadian Museums.

What is your favourite item in your shop (and why)?

The Mail a Moose postcard is my favourite because it started it all, and because “Mail a Moose” is fun to say!

If you could define your style in 3 words, what would they be?

Lighthearted, colorful, cheery

Are you a letter/postcard writer yourself?

Yes, I think everyone likes receiving something fun in the mail since it rarely happens anymore. When traveling, I really enjoy finding special cards to send back home. I also occasionally frame interesting graphic cards for home decor when I find the right ones.

Virginie kindly offered 5 packs of her wonderful postcards to give away – each pack features the complete collection of 14 different animals! :D For a chance to win a pack, visit Green Banana Cards' page, and leave a comment below, telling us which one was your favourite animal. We’ll randomly pick 5 winners this time next Saturday. Good luck!