Thomas Perry Stricker was born in 1898. Before he became actively interested in printing, Stricker had been an usher in a small-town movie theater, infantryman in World War I, student at a business college, salesman of canned meats, order-desk man for a North Dakota wholesale food company, restaurant operator, employee in a circulating library, and a bookseller (under the guidance of "Doc" Wells) in the book department of Powers Mercantile Company in Minneapolis. In 1928 he moved to Los Angeles and became night manager of Marchetti's Restaurant, simultaneously acting as advertising manager of the American Dancer magazine and, later, assistant publisher of Daily Screen World, while writing for both publications. In 1930, Stricker bought a proof press and taught himself how to set type and run sheets through the press. From 1930 to 1935, Stricker obtained better printing equipment and more foundry types and did some printing and publishing of private editions. During the years 1935 to 1938, he was in New York, freelancing, preparing exhibition catalogs for the American Institute of Graphic Arts and setting up another private press. In 1938 Stricker returned to Los Angeles to work on promotion for the motion picture, Marie Antoinette, but continued to print private editions. In 1939 he fell ill, and in 1940, he sold his printing equipment to Ward Ritchie and joined the Historical Records Survey as state editor. He remained in California until 1943, and then returned to New York where he died in 1945.