I first became interested in the art work of the Indians while working
as a reporter for an Oklahoma daily newspaper in 1900, at which time I
covered the opening for settlement of the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache
Indian reservations in southwest Oklahoma. After two years of study
(1903-1904) at the University of Oklahoma, I became a traveling salesman
and remained in that profession until 1917 when I went into business for
myself (retired from business in 1957). About 1918 I became actively
interested in Indian pottery and basketry and started my collections.
Since that time, Mrs. Field, my daughter Dorothy Field Maxwell (Mrs.
Gilbert S.), and I have traveled more than one hundred and twenty five
thousand miles collecting in the United States, Canada, Alaska, Mexico,
Central and South America.
To date (1964) we have spent 46 years in trying to collect authentic
specimens of baskets made for actual use by all basket-making tribes (no
tourist specimens are included). Intent upon maintaining the highest
possible quality throughout the collection, I have always insisted upon
acquiring the finest representative basket for its particular tribe or
use.
The collection is completely catalogued and photographed and has been
given to the Philbrook Art Center of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where it is on
exhibition. The collection has been rated by members of the Indian Arts
and Crafts Board, and by members of other museums, as the most
comprehensive in the United States for its beauty of specimens and
unusual method of display.