collier was the curator of south and central american archaeology and ethnology at the field museum from 1941 to 1976. he was chief curator of the anthropology department from 1964 to 1970 and became curator emeritus in 1976. the first major exhibition collier helped develop was "indians before columbus", a general exhibit on indians of the americas with particular emphasis on the eastern united states. another exhibition collier worked on was "indian art of the americas" which was a part of the festival of the americas for the third pan american games in chicago in 1959.