Olga Haring

She was born into a wealthy Slovenian family on 18 May 1866 in Črnomelj.^[1][2] Her mother, Zofija Kapelle (1843–1929), was a large landowner and landlady, a collector of national embroidery, painted Easter eggs, and other folk artefacts, and a patriot.^[2][3][1] Her father was Teodor Haring, whom her mother had been forced to marry at the age of nineteen by her father; he later abandoned her mother and disappeared to America before Olga's birth.^[4][2][1] She had an older brother who died at the age of six in 1869.^[5][6] Olga wished to become a teacher, and after completing elementary education she attended a teachers' training college run by the Ursuline nuns in Ljubljana.^[2] She and her mother appear together in one of the oldest private photographs in Slovenia, taken around 1880 by Josip Nikolaj Sadnikar.^[7][2]

While still young, she fell ill and was therefore forced to leave the teachers' college.^[2] Later, as a result of illness, she became blind.^[2][8][9] She remained with her mother, and the two supported themselves by renting out property.^[2] Her mother's house, the Viniški Manor at Suhi most in Črnomelj, was a gathering place for nationally conscious Slovenes. Among their visitors were the teacher and ethnologist Leopoldina Bavdek – Poldka, who also collaborated with her mother; the veterinarian and collector of antiquities and artworks Josip Nikolaj Sadnikar; the painter Ferdo Vesel, husband of painter Jessie Case Vesel; the painter Maksim Gaspari; and the publicist and ethnographer Božo Račič.^{[2][8][3][10]} In 1913, they were also visited by the Russian soprano singer and ethnologist Yevgeniya Paprits Linyevna (1854–1919).^[11][2]