I had dinner with my Dad last night and we were talking about my upcoming trip to Chickasaw Nation, where I’ll be presenting a lecture. I asked him if he wanted me to look up anything at the Chickasaw Cultural Center, which is a genealogy center. My Dad has done significant genealogical research into our family history. As an academic, I’ve always been amazed at the complexity and thoroughness of his genealogy research. I thought maybe while I was in Chickasaw, I could find out something paltry to supplement his work.
Vintage Postcards from Chickasaw, Indian Territory
Much to my surprise he pulled out a box of postcards to show me. I didn’t think much about them really. It is a large stack all dated from the time before allotment in Oklahoma. I think he wanted me to donate some. I thought this was a good idea, then I saw it—Greetings from Ardmore, OKLA—postcard. I wanted to know who had written it and where it came from. As I started looking at the postcards, I saw that many were from as early as 1907 and they were addressed to Chickasaw, I.T. or Chickasaw, Indian Territory. I began to wonder what the story behind the cards was and to read them.
This postcard inspired the Postcard Project and this blog series
So, I’ve decided to explore these postcards. I’m going to document and photograph them and speculate a bit in my blog. I hope you enjoy the narrative. I’ll also take the cards with me on my trip to Chickasaw Nation in two weeks and see what happens there.
Dr. Morris, the Director of the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Under her leadership, the AIPI has grown and diversified its service to Indian Country via an MOU formalizing a long-standing partnership with the Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA) and forming the Tribal Economic Leadership Program offering training in Tribal Economic Governance and Tribal Financial Management; access to Entrepreneurship training and tribal business support through Inno-Nations; and Economic Development Consulting; and, the formalization of the Institute via by-laws and an advisory board comprised of both internal ASU leadership and external tribal and non-tribal leadership.
In her work at both ASU and prior, Morris has worked with Native American tribes; Tribal businesses; Native American non-profits; Native media makers, artists, and galleries; written a college-accredited curriculum in Native American new media; and has advocated for digital inclusion at the Federal Communications Commission and on Capitol Hill.
Morris’s research and publications on Native American media and the digital divide is focused on Internet use, digital inclusion, network neutrality, digital and new media curriculums, digital inclusion and development of broadband networks in Indian Country. Her book, Native American Voices: A Reader, continues to be a primary teaching tool in colleges throughout the country.
Dr. Morris is Affiliated Faculty at ASU's School for the Future of Innovation in Society, an Affiliate of ASU's Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology, a Senior Sustainability Scholar at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, President of the Board of the Phoenix Indian Center, Board member of the Arizona American Indian Chamber of Commerce, and on the Advisory Council of the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums. Formerly, Morris served member of the Advisory Board for the Department of Labor's Native American Employment and Training Council and served a two-year appointment (2014-2016 and 2010-2012) on the Federal Communications Commission's Consumer Advisory Committee.
As an entrepreneur prior to her ASU appointment, Morris founded Homahota Consulting LLC, a national Native American woman-owned professional services firm working in policy analysis, telecommunications, education, and research assisting tribes in their nation-building efforts and working with Native Nations, tribal businesses and those businesses working with tribes.
Morris has an M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona’s American Indian Studies, in addition to a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Colorado State University.
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Traci L. Morris 