I was born in Dallas, Texas, on January 6, 1882.

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.

Clark Field