Lawrence Archer was elected Mayor of San José on April 16, 1856, but had resigned by July 21 of the same year. He then served as a County Judge from 1867 to 1871, and as a California State Assemblyman in 1875 and 1876. Archer once again became Mayor of San José in 1878, after taking over for interim Mayor George B. McKee. This portrait was painted that year.