James Henry Pickering, Jr. was a graphic illustrator and retail merchandiser who served as the president of Amos Parrish and Company, Inc. Pickering was born James Howard Lockwood in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 29, 1904 to Howard Lockwood and Maud Mary Pickering. After the death of his mother during childbirth and the subsequent disappearance of his father, Pickering lived with his grandfather and great aunt. He adopted the use of his maternal last name which he legally changed in 1925. He graduated from Northeast High School in Kansas City in 1923.

Pickering attended Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, as he lacked the funds to pursue an architectural degree at a senior college. In 1925, he graduated from the community college and entered Midland College in Fremont, Nebraska. Pickering worked for Quinn’s Department Store as the display and advertising manager while attending Midland College.

He transferred to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1927, and worked to pay his tuition by designing store displays and illustrating advertisements for Ben Simon & Sons, a local haberdashery. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1930 with a degree in business administration, where he was president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Pickering wrote, illustrated, and was the art manager for several student publications of the University of Nebraska, including The Daily Nebraskan, Cornhusker Countryman, Awgwan (also referred to as The Nebraska Awgwan), and Insanity Fare, a publication about menswear on campus. In addition to his involvement at the University of Nebraska, Pickering worked simultaneously for Ben Simon & Sons and the Donnelly Garment Company during his college career.

According to the donor, Pickering became increasingly interested in graphic and retail design principles while in college. He was fascinated by initiatives developed in Europe, such as the establishment of the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany. Pickering traveled to Germany in November 1933 to study under German architect and last director of the Bauhaus, Ludwig Mies van de Rohe. He also studied store planning and design under the well-known interior and exhibition designer Lily Reich, who frequently collaborated with Mies van der Rohe. Pickering was also tutored in graphics and design by Herbert Bayer, and lighting and display by László Maholy-Nagy during his time abroad. He continued to illustrate advertisements for the Donnelly company and mailed his designs from Europe on a regular basis. Pickering was forced to return to the United States in October 1934 because of the violence associated with the "Night of the Long Knives," the purge of Nazi leaders and political opponents orchestrated by Adolf Hitler in June 1934. Pickering’s experience of the purge was published in local Nebraska newspapers.

Pickering joined Amos Parrish & Company, Inc., based in New York City, in 1934. In his starting position, he initiated, developed, and directed the activities of the company’s Store Design Division. He organized and conducted the Executive and Fashion Clinics held in New York several times a year. The clinics had an audience of department store executives from all over the United States who wanted to learn management tactics aimed to improve corporate image and overall operations. Clinic attendees studied current and future fashion trends and learned techniques for the display and sale of various merchandise. Pickering was elected vice president of the company in 1951, then promoted to president and director in 1959. Amos Parrish left the company he founded in 1961 and named Pickering his replacement as chairman of the board in August of the same year. Pickering resigned in 1962 after the company filed for bankruptcy. It is unknown when Amos Parrish and Company completely ceased operations.

Pickering established his own planning and design firm in Scarsdale, New York, after resigning from Amos Parrish & Co. One of the last clients of his consulting firm was the Roger’s Peet specialty store in the nation’s first covered mall, the Fashion Center, in Paramus, New Jersey.

Pickering married Anita Felber of Laurel, Nebraska, in June 1935. The couple had three kids: James Henry (also referred to as Jaime and JIII in the collection), Nancy Eleanor, and Thomas. They lived in Tudor City on the east side of Manhattan before moving to Westchester County in 1941. James Pickering died in June 1969.

Sources:

Biographical information, 1933-1962. James Henry Pickering papers, KA.0168.01, box 1, folder 9, New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York.

Newspaper clippings found in Family scrapbooks, 1929-1957. James Henry Pickering papers, KA.0168.01, box OSx-1, folders 4-5, New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York.

“Parrish Elevates Pickering.” The New York Times. August 15, 1961. https://nyti.ms/3O5VOgw