Ethel Franklin Betts Bains (September 6, 1877 – October 9, 1959) was an American illustrator primarily of children's books during the Golden Age of American Illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ethel Franklin Betts was born on September 6, 1877, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the youngest daughter of doctor Thomas Betts and housekeeper Alice Whelan. Illustrator Anna Whelan Betts was her older sister.[1][2]
Betts attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before enrolling in illustrator and teacher Howard Pyle's class at Drexel Institute in 1899. Betts, accompanied by her sister Anna and mutual friend Dorothy Warren, established a studio near Pyle's after he moved to Wilmington, Delaware. Her stay in Wilmington spanned two winters, the latter of which she spent as a guest in Pyle's home.[3]