According to the Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography edited by John Hannavy, Edward Meyer Kern was the youngest of three Philadelphia-born artistically-minded brothers who all took part in important ventures of American exploration in the nineteenth-century. He was primarily a draughtsman, and from 1845 to 1851 worked exclusively as a pencil artist and topographer on surveys of the American West, notably under the leadership of John Charles Frémont. His brothers, Benjamin and Richard Kern, were also artists, though less prominent than Edward Meyer. The print does not include a first name or initials, so it is unclear which of the Kern brothers drew the sketch this print was created after.