William Bradhurst Osgood Field, Jr. was born in New York City on January 30, 1904. He
received a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from Harvard in 1926. In 1929, he
married Alice Withrow. After graduation, Field began a long career in glaciology,
making numerous expeditions to places like Alaska, and was widely recognized as the
"Father of Glaciology". Field began working as a research associate for the American
Geographical Society (AGS) in 1940. He later became the head of the Department of
Exploration and Field Research for the AGS in 1946 and continued in this capacity
until 1969. Field initiated the Juneau Icefield Research Project in 1948, which the
AGS continued to sponsor for the next ten years. For the International Geophysical
Year (1957-1958), Field founded and directed World Data Center-A for glaciology at
the AGS. Field also wrote numerous books and articles on the subject of glaciology
and was honored with several awards, including the Charles P. Daly medal by the AGS
in 1969. He became a council member of the AGS and served in that capacity for many
years. Field died in 1994.
In the summer of 1929, Field first traveled to Russia, specifically Georgia in the
Caucasus. He passed through areas such as Swanetia, on the southern slope of the
Central Caucasus, where he took still pictures and "about 1200 feet" of 35mm film of
the Swan people and the landscape during the twelve days he was there. His trip was
prompted by a travel organization called Open Road, that "arranged trips to unusual
and interesting places." Field was so enamored by the people that he arranged
through the "head of the local political hierarchy" to return and finish taking
pictures and film. Upon his return, Field tried to get his film produced
commercially to no avail and instead used his footage and still pictures during
lectures he gave about the region for several years after. Field also traveled to
Russia, specifically Moscow, in the early to mid-1930s. He filmed the daily life of
Muscovites, from street scenes to sporting events. He also took footage of historic
Moscow architecture, such as St. Basil's Cathedral, the Novodevichy Convent, and
other landmarks in the Red Square. From these trips, he produced educational and
travel motion pictures from the 1920s through the 1950s, focusing on geographical
studies.