Wikipedia

Ora Eddleman Reed

Ora Veralyn Eddleman Reed (September 17, 1880 – June 19, 1968), also known as Tucheta[1][2] or Mignon Schreiber, was an American writer, editor and radio host. Though not officially enrolled,[3] she is usually associated with the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, a connection she embraced in her writings and social interactions.[4][5]

Ora Eddleman Reed
A young woman with fair skin and dark wavy hair, seated at a desk, wearing a striped shirtwaist and a skirt
Ora Eddleman (later Reed), from a 1902 publication
Born
Ora V. Eddleman

September 17, 1880
Texas, U.S.
DiedJune 19, 1968
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Other namesMignon Schreiber, Tucheta
Occupation(s)Writer, editor

Early life and education

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Eddleman was born near Denton, Texas, the daughter of David Jones Eddleman and Mary Jane Daugherty Eddleman.[6][7] Mary Daugherty Eddleman identified as Cherokee and Irish by ancestry,[4] but her 1908 application to be officially enrolled in the Cherokee Nation was rejected by the Dawes Commission.[6] Ora V. Eddleman followed her mother's example in her public presentation as a Cherokee woman,[8] and she maintained a "lifelong connection to Cherokee leaders and to the larger Cherokee community".[6] She attended Henry Kendall College in Muskogee, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma),[9] but left school to help with her family's newspaper business.[10]

Career

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Eddleman's family owned the Muskogee Daily Times,[7] and she worked at the newspaper as a young woman.[11][12] She was a co-founder and editor of Twin Territories: The Indian Magazine, a monthly publication,[13] from 1898 to 1904.[5][14] From 1905 to 1906, she edited the "Indian Department" of Sturm's Oklahoma Magazine.[4][15] Her columns were noted for their humor.[16] She also wrote short stories under the name "Mignon Schreiber".[9] She published and promoted works by Native American authors including Mabel Washbourne Anderson, Charles Gibson, John Rollin Ridge, and Alexander Posey.[17][18] She wrote an unpublished novel, Where the Big Woods Beckon, and an unadapted screenplay, Night Brings Out the Stars.[6]

Reed was an active member of the Indian Territory Press Association.[1][19] She was president of the Yellowstone chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1929[20] and 1931.[21] She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Oklahoma Historical Society.[7][9][22] She became active in radio in Casper, Wyoming, in the 1930s, hosting a half-hour talk show and dispensing advice as "the Sunshine Lady".[11] She has been described as "the first Native American broadcaster"[23] and "the first Native American talk show host".[24][25]

Publications

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  • "Lucy and I as Missionaries" and "Only an Indian Girl" (1900, Twin Territories, stories; as Mignon Schreiber)[26][27]
  • Status of Indian Schools (1902, report)
  • "Great Works of an Indian" (1906, Sturm's, article)
  • "The Indian Orphan" (1908, Sturm's)[28]
  • "Modern Mistress Lo" (1908, Harper's Bazaar, article)[29]
  • "Billy Bearclaws, Aid to Cupid" (1909, story)
  • "Daughters of the Confederacy" (1910, Sturm's)[30]
  • "A Toast" (1914, short poem)[31]
  • "Pioneer Publisher, First Daily in Indian Country" (1945, The Chronicles of Oklahoma)[32][33]
  • "The Robe Family: Missionaries" (1948, The Chronicles of Oklahoma)[34]
  • "What the Curious Want to Know" (a regular column in Twin Territories)[35]
  • "Types of Indian Girls" (a regular feature in Twin Territories)[36]

Personal life and legacy

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Eddleman married fellow journalist Charles L. Reed in 1904; they had two sons, Roy and David, and two more children who died in infancy. Her husband worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and as a scout for oil companies.[37] The Reeds moved to Wyoming in 1924, and back to Oklahoma in 1932.[11] Her husband died in 1949,[38] and she died in 1968, at the age of 87, at a nursing home in Tulsa.[7][39] A collection of her selected works was published in 2024 by the University of Nebraska Press.[3] The University of Oklahoma has a microfilm run of Eddleman's Twin Territories.[40]

References

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  1. ^ a b "A Cherokee City Editor; Miss Tucheta B. Eddleman, an Indian, on the Desk of the Muskogee Daily Times". Kansas City Journal. 1898-07-12. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  2. ^ "Salmagundi Notes". Falls City Daily News. 1901-11-15. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Carpenter, Cari M. and Karen L. Kilcup, eds., The Selected Works of Ora Eddleman Reed: Author, Editor, and Activist for Cherokee Rights (University of Nebraska Press 2024). ISBN 978-1-4962-1944-2
  4. ^ a b c Littlefield, Daniel F.; Parins, James W. (1985). A Biobibliography of Native American Writers, 1772-1924: A Supplement. Scarecrow Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-8108-1802-6.
  5. ^ a b Morrison, Daryl (Summer 1982). "Twin Territories: The Indian Magazine and its editor, Ora Eddleman Reed". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 60 (2): 136–166.
  6. ^ a b c d Carpenter, Cari; Kilcup, Karen (2022-04-11). ""What the Curious Want to Know": Material and Ethical Challenges of Recovering an Early Cherokee Woman's Work". Scholarly Editing. 39. doi:10.55520/H1W49V4K.
  7. ^ a b c d "Early-Day Writer Dies". Tulsa World. 1968-06-20. p. 60. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Ways of Women". The Call. 1902-01-30. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c Wilson, Linda D. "Ora V. Eddleman Reed" The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society.
  10. ^ "A Magazine for Indians". Harper's Weekly. 46: 413. March 29, 1902 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ a b c Synar, Edwyna (2019-04-26). "Remember the Ladies: Ora Eddleman Reed was a writer extraordinaire". Muskogee Phoenix. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  12. ^ ICT (2023-08-11). "From petroglyphs to pixels: A history of Indigenous media". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  13. ^ "Indian Editor; Cherokee Girl Issues Monthly Magazine; She Has Literary Aspirations". The Daily Times. 1902-02-21. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Carpenter, Cari (2023). "Indian Territory Reimagined: Ora Eddleman Reed's Twin Territories". American Periodicals: A Journal of History & Criticism. 33 (2): 136–151. doi:10.1353/amp.2023.a911653. ISSN 1548-4238.
  15. ^ "Sturm's Oklahoma Magazine (advertisement)". Sunset. 17 (5). September 1906.
  16. ^ "Native American scholar to speak on Indian humor". Tulsa World. 2002-09-08. p. 89. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Kosmider, Alexia Maria (1998). Tricky Tribal Discourse: The Poetry, Short Stories, and Fus Fixico Letters of Creek Writer Alex Posey. University of Idaho Press. ISBN 978-0-89301-201-4.
  18. ^ Wilson, Linda D. "Twin Territories: The Indian Magazine". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  19. ^ "The Place Selected; Next Meeting of the Press Association will be at Checotah". The Daily Chieftain. 1901-03-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Short Program Features U. D. of C. Meeting". Casper Star-Tribune. 1929-10-20. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Mrs. Charles L. Reed Heads Organization". Casper Star-Tribune. 1931-03-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Oklahoma Historical Society". The Nashville News. 1906-06-01. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Torres, Joseph; González, Juan (2012-09-11). News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78168-424-5.
  24. ^ Mark N. Trahant (1995). Pictures of our nobler selves. Internet Archive. pp. iii.
  25. ^ Sanchez, Sheila (1995-12-04). "Native Americans contribute much to journalism". The Daily Herald. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Will be Issued April 1". Muskogee Phoenix. 1900-03-29. p. 6. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ Schreiber, Mignon (Ora Eddleman Reed). "Lucy and I as Missionaries." Twin Territories Mar 1900, no. 43 (1900): 79.
  28. ^ "Oklahoma's Great Magazine". The Gracemont Graphic. 1908-04-24. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Reed, Ora Eddleman (October 1908). "Modern Mistress Lo". Harper's Bazaar. Vol. 42, no. 10. pp. 1002–1004.
  30. ^ "Sturm's for June". The Coalgate Courier. 1910-06-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "Here's to the Girl of Long Years Ago; Ora Eddleman Reed's Prize Winning Answer a Toast in Verse". Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 1914-01-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  32. ^ Reed, Ora Eddleman (Spring 1945). "Pioneer Publisher, First Daily Newspaper in Indian Country". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 23 (1): 36–40 – via Internet Archive.
  33. ^ "Eddleman Topic of Article in Chronicles of Oklahoma". Sooner State Press. 1945-07-14. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ^ Reed, Ora Eddleman. "The Robe Family--Missionaries"Chronicles of Oklahoma 26, no. 3 (1948): 301-312.
  35. ^ Kosmider, Alexia. “‘What the Curious Want to Know’: Cherokee Writer, Ora Eddleman Reed Writes Back to the Empire,” Literature and Psychology 41, no. 4 (1995): 51–72.
  36. ^ Kosmider, Alexia. “Strike a Euroamerican Pose: Ora Eddleman Reed’s ‘Types of Indian Girls,’” American Transcendental Quarterly 12, no. 2 (June 1998): 109–21.
  37. ^ "Charles L. Reed Rites Wednesday; Retired Indian Service and Oil Firm Official". Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 1949-01-04. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ "Ora Reed Asks Estate Executrix Appointment". Muskogee Times-Democrat. 1949-01-11. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ "Pioneer Oklahoma Publisher Dies". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1968-06-21. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-08-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ Twin Territories (microfilmed issues from 1899 to 1904), University of Oklahoma.
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