A 1927 colour print of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution under full sail, reproduced from a Gordon Grant painting by direction of the National Committee "Save Old Ironsides" Fund. It carries no slogan, only the dates 1797 and 1927. NAID 515110.
What the sheet prints
The picture is a ship. The frigate Constitution runs under full canvas on a rough sea, with two other vessels behind her and the flag at her stern. The caption gives two years and a nickname. There is no call to give, no price, and no slogan on the face of the print. The appeal is in the small type at the bottom.
1797-"Old Ironsides" U.S. Frigate Constitution-1927.
[signature: Gordon Grant 1927]
[imprint: © 1927 BY G.G. U.S.P. & L. CO.]
[imprint: REPRODUCED FROM THE ORIGINAL PAINTING BY GORDON GRANT BY DIRECTION OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE "SAVE OLD IRONSIDES" FUND, UNDER AUTHORITY GRANTED BY ACT OF CONGRESS. COPYRIGHTED AND ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
Who issued it
The imprint names three parties: the painter, Gordon Grant; a national committee raising money to save the ship; and Congress, whose act the committee cites as its authority to reproduce the painting. The National Archives holds the sheet in Record Group 44 as 44-PA-1447. FRAME lists the purpose as commemoration and the theme as war and the military.
There is a loose end in the rights. The National Archives catalog line, as the archive records it, calls the sheet a public-domain U.S. government work. The print itself says "Copyrighted and all rights reserved," with a 1927 copyright line. This page reports both and does not settle which governs.
How to read it
FRAME tags the print for transfer and says the technique is faint. That is fair. The prestige of a ship launched in 1797 is borrowed for a fund in 1927, and the painting does the asking without a word.
It is worth noticing how little coercion there is. A committee asked the public to keep an old warship afloat, and the only thing on offer was a good picture. The ship bore the name of the national charter. Fittingly, ten years later a proclamation for the 150th anniversary of the Constitution used the same kind of borrowed authority, portraits instead of sails. A reader can admire the ship and the painting and still see the device.
Sources
- FRAME object record, 1797 Old Ironsides U.S. Frigate Constitution 1927. Painting by Gordon Grant; National Committee "Save Old Ironsides" Fund.
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, NAID 515110 (44-PA-1447), retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
