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Weekend On Ellis Island The Clan Currie Society is today announcing plans for their annual observance of National Tartan Day on Ellis Island. In conjunction with the National Park Service, the National Museums of Scotland, VisitScotland and the Scottish Arts Council, Clan Currie will host a weekend celebration of Scottish crafts at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Additional support for this celebratory weekend is being provided by the Grand Summit Hotel of Summit, NJ. “Tartan Day Weekend On Ellis Island – Celebrating Scotland’s Crafts” will commence on Friday, April 4, 2003 with an opening celebration to welcome a contingent of Scotland’s leading craftsfolk, specializing in many aspects of Scottish culture, including Scottish fiddlemaking, weaving, bagpipe crafting and kilt making. According to Robert Currie, president of the Clan Currie Society and director for the Save Ellis Island! Foundation, “Each craft represents part of Scotland’s “portable culture” that was brought with Scottish immigrants to North America from Colonial times to the present”.
The four crafters scheduled to travel to Ellis Island are: Hamish Moore, the celebrated pipe maker from the village of Dunkeld in Perthshire, central Scotland, is a bagpipe maker, teacher and international performer. He will show his skills in manufacturing and playing a whole range of Highland Pipes, small and Lowland pipes - each with their own distinctive sound and important instruments in Scottish contemporary music. Wilma Couper from the Shetland Working Textile Museum. Born and raised in the Shetland Isles, Wilma will tell the whole tale of Shetland life, customs, traditions, and landscape. She is a gifted and talented weaver- both traditional Fair Isle patterns and Shetland lace. She will be bringing to Ellis Island a range of items for display and handling and also work in progress. She'll also explain the spinning process, the range of natural wools and their local names on Shetland; wool brokers shade cards and knitters pattern books. She also has wonderful tales to tell of island life - a world apart from most people's everyday experience. Robert McBain, master tailor and kilt maker from Keith in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. A former member of the Gordon Highlanders, McBain established the Keith Kilt School in Scotland and now leads the school, training approximately 12 new pupils every year in the craft of hand building kilts to order. He also has expertise and wide knowledge of tartan manufacture and history and will have plenty of samples for visitors to see and discuss. Colin Adamson, from Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh. Colin makes individual violins, violas and cellos for world class musicians who perform both traditional and classical concerts. A hand made process, taking special native Scottish timbers from their raw state to a polished instrument with the finest tonal qualities is the highest art.
“Tartan Day Weekend on Ellis Island” marks the third year in a row that Clan Currie as played a leading role in establishing Tartan Day celebrations and the second year that Clan Currie has joined forces with the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and the National Museums of Scotland. In 2002, the partnership presented “Home and Away – Highland Departures and Returns”, a traveling exhibit that remained on display at Ellis Island for almost four months. Noted Scottish journalist and author Roddy Martine reported that of all the Tartan Day events held in the United States, the Ellis Island event, “stood out as a beacon of what USA Tartan Day is all about: the emigrant ancestors of ordinary Americans who over three centuries crossed the Atlantic Ocean to create the world’s greatest democracy.” As was the case last year, the Friday morning Opening Ceremonies on Ellis Island will kick-off a weekend-long series of Scottish cultural events throughout the area, including the much-awaited return of the Tunes of Glory pipe band parade up New York’s Sixth Avenue. Although many Scots arrived during the colonial period of our history – helping to build the new nation - an additional half-million Scots came through Ellis Island between 1899 and 1931. National Tartan Day is an American celebration which recognizes the contributions of Scots and Scottish-Americans to the development of the United States. In 1998 the U.S. Senate passed a resolution recognizing April 6 as National Tartan Day in recognition of "the outstanding contribution of millions of Scots-Americans to our great nation." The date commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 which was an influence on the American Declaration of Independence. Almost half of the signatories on the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, while three quarters of U.S. Presidents have been of Scottish ancestry.
Additional Information The museum can be reached via ferry boats departing from Liberty State Park in Jersey City and Battery Park in Manhattan. For schedule and ticket information, contact the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Ferry at 201-435-9499 (NJ) or 212-269-5755 (NY). For further information on National Tartan Day, contact the Clan Currie Society at 908-273-3509, via e-mail at clancurrie@mail.com or by visiting their website at www.clancurrie.com. For additional information on the National Museums of Scotland, visit their website at www.nms.ac.uk. The Ellis Island Immigration Museum website can be found at www.nps.gov/elis. The Grand Summit Hotel is the official host hotel of Tartan Day Weekend on Ellis Island. For further information, contact the hotel at (908) 273-3000 or by visiting their website at www.grandsummit.com.
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