Collier was instrumental in ending the loss of reservations lands held by Indians, and in enabling many tribal nations to re-institute self-government and preserve their traditional culture.

[2] From 1907 to 1919, he worked as secretary of the People's Institute, where he developed programs for immigrant neighborhoods, emphasizing pride in their traditions, sponsoring lectures and pageants, and political awareness.

In 1908, Collier made his first significant contribution to a national magazine; his article describing the socialist municipal government in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was published in Harper's Weekly.

[6] Collier was brought into the forefront of the debate by the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), when it appointed him the research agent for its Indian Welfare Committee in 1922.

The GFWC took a leadership role in opposing assimilation policies, supporting the return of Indian lands, and promoting more religious and economic independence.

[1] President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the advice of his new Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes to appoint Collier as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1933.

The CCC provided jobs to Native American men (of all ages) in soil erosion control, reforestation, range development, and other public works projects and built infrastructure such as roads and schools on reservations.

Collier was also responsible for getting the Johnson–O'Malley Act passed in 1934, which allowed the Secretary of the Interior to sign contracts with state governments to subsidize public schooling, medical care, and other services for Indians who did not live on reservations.

[22] In 1943, Collier married anthropologist Laura Maud Thompson, who was working as the Coordinator of the Indian Education, Personality and Administration Project.

[24] His oversight of the Poston camp was carried out alongside the War Relocation Authority under director Milton S. Eisenhower, although he enjoyed seemingly unimpeded jurisdiction for much of the incarceration period.

[25] Envisioning Poston as a place where the internees could "utterly give themselves to the community",[26] Collier wanted to demonstrate the efficiency and the grandeur of cooperative living to the American public.

He did this by facilitating communities that modeled alternative forms of social organization with the intention of offering a substantive critique of American society which he had grown disillusioned with.

A second intention of his work was to provide the U.S. government with information about people of Japanese descent that could be implemented in their assumed occupation of East Asian "dependencies it might control at the end of the war.

Harking back to his broader position as the director of the BIA, Collier wanted to uphold Japanese culture as well as "[protect] them from civilian racism, and prepare [them] to reintegrate into U.S. society after the war.

[28] Seeing this as an opportunity to expand his influence over incarceration, Collier began a campaign to acquire (i.e. take) the vacancy, citing his prior experience with Native Americans and oversight of Poston as qualifying factors.

[28] As time went on, Collier began to notice a divide growing between his ideological vision for camp life at Poston and that of new WRA director Dillon S. Myer.

Additionally, Myer had emphasized the possibility of Japanese Americans' permanent dependence on government aid, influencing his thoughts on resettlement.

[26] Because of the ideological differences and pressure from Myers to implement a uniform policy to all relocation camps, Collier relinquished control over the Poston to the WRA in 1943, effectively ending his involvement with Japanese American incarceration.

"[33] The Indian New Deal, Collier's chief realization, was landmark legislation authorizing tribal self-rule under federal supervision, putting an end to land allotment and generally promoting measures to enhance tribes and encouraging education.

[38] Although remaining relatively obscure, his administration of a Japanese American incarceration center is representative of Collier's affinity for marginalized populations.

[37] Hauptman argues that his emphasis on Northern Pueblo arts and crafts and the uniformity of his approach to all tribes are partly explained by his belief that his tenure as Commissioner would be short, meaning that packaging large, lengthy legislative reforms seemed politically necessary.

1909) got engaged in the preservation of Los Luceros in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, Donald became a prominent anthropologist, and John Jr. (1913–1992), a documentary photographer, significantly contributed to fields like applied and visual anthropology.