The subject of this photograph, Eric Pape, was born in San Francisco, California on 17 October 1870. His art studies began at the San Francisco School of Design under Emil Carlsen and he continued his studies in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. At the age of twenty-one, he was represented in the Exposition du Caire, Egypt and following years his work was included in the Paris Salon, the World's Columbian Exposition, and the California Midwinter International Exposition.
Pape opened the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston at the age of twenty-eight. In 1906, he wrote a petition to Congress from the citizens of Massachusetts to preserve the U.S. Frigate Constitution, commonly referred to as Old Ironsides, and secured 30,000 signatures.
In February 1906, Pape presented the petition to the US Congress. The illuminated parchment and scroll is permanently displayed at the Navel Museum in Washington, D.C. This photograph, signed by both the photographer and the subject was taken the day after the event.
There is an ink annotation on the verso of the support that reads "Taken in Washington, D.C., on the day following the presentation of the Petition for the preservation of the Frigate Constitution "Old Ironsides", to the United States Congress."