In my second story in the Postcards from Indian Country Project, I’ll start at the beginning. As I said, I received a collection of postcards that belonged to and were saved by my great-grandmother. I’ve become absolutely entranced by these postcards.
My great-grandmother is Eula Maulsey Holder Morris and these postcards were sent to her over a range of years between 1907 and about 1935. Most of the large selection of cards date from 1907-1912 and were sent to either Chickasha Indian Territory (Oklahoma now) and I know this because they are postmarked.
For this post, I thought I’d start with background information about my great-grandmother and then I thought I would pick a postcard to accompany the post. So, I looked up her demographic info from my Dad’s genealogy report and noticed here wedding date to my great-grandfather William Franklin Morris Jr. was September of 1907. Interestingly, the first postcard I picked out was dated 1907. I thought “ok, this will go nicely with my story.”
This postcard was sent before their wedding and dated Sept. 7th, 1907
When I looked at the front side, I saw a drawing of a couple; the man on his knee with a flower. Written on the two figures depicted were “Eula” and “Frank.” WOW! I looked again at the
Frank & Eula in love
postmark on the other side; it was dated September 7th, 1907. The only text written on the card is “Miss Eula Holder, Chickasha.” Evidently, he sent the postcard before they were married.
Frank & Eula in their later years
Eula and Frank were married in Holder, Love County, and Indian Territory. This place does not exist anymore. Holder is gone, Love County is part of Pickens County now, and Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the same year they were married. Love Country was made up entirely of Chickasaw lands.
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 