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Annual Ellis Island Event Selected as Setting for National Tartan Day Award Announcement Scottish Coalition Chooses Ellice McDonald, Jr. CBE for 2004 Honors The Scottish Coalition, a group of national Scottish-American organizations has selected the Ellis Island Tartan Day celebration to announce their annual National Tartan Day Award. “Tartan Day on Ellis Island” is presented annually by the Clan Currie Society in association with the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, a part of the National Park Service. The 2004 Honoree is Ellice McDonald, Jr. CBE of Montchanin, Delaware. The announcement was made on Friday April 2 by Robert Currie, president of the Clan Currie Society and producer of the Ellis Island event, as part of the opening ceremonies of a new exhibit specially commissioned for Tartan Day entitled, “Loyalty and Exile: The Jacobites and America.” In making their selection, Robert W. Murdoch, national chairman of Tartan Day stated, “I was extremely pleased that the selection committee for the Tartan Day Award has chosen Ellice McDonald for this distinguished award. His tireless activities have benefited Scots and Scottish-Americans worldwide.” Murdoch continued, “Although Tartan Day is only eight years old, Ellice McDonald, through his creation and support of the Clan Donald Centre on the Isle of Skye, has been upholding Scottish traditions for years. He was instrumental in the forming of Clan Donald USA and served as High Commissioner from 1976 to 1983. From 1997 to 1992, he served as publisher of “By Sea, By Land,” the national Clan Donald newsletter. He is founder and trustee of several major foundations, including the Glencoe Foundation, the Clan Donald Foundation, and the Gurkha Welfare Trust Foundation USA.”
Mr. McDonald has been the recipient of numerous honors, perhaps the most prestigious being that of receiving in 1985 the title of Commander with the Seal of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) conferred by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. McDonald is the son of a Canadian physician, the late Dr. Ellice McDonald, and is the grandson of Archibald McDonald, who was born in Glencoe, Scotland and was the last of the chief factors of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In making the announcement, Currie wholeheartedly endorsed the selection of Ellice McDonald, “How appropriate it is for a contemporary member of the MacMhuirich bardic family to be honoring one of the great contemporary men of Clan Donald. I am delighted to be acting in this capacity today performing a duty much in the same way my own MacMhuirich ancestors did in centuries past.”
The Tartan Day Award is a glass sculpture designed by Scottish wheel engraver and kiln worker, Denis Mann. The Scottish Coalition commissioned the work in 2003. Although Mr. MacDonald was not able to attend the ceremonies, a private presentation was being planned by Robert Murdoch who will visit with McDonald at his Delaware home. About The Scottish Coalition The Scottish Coalition is composed of nine national organizations serving the Scottish-American community, principally through research, long-term planning, and as a resource for information and guidance. Its vision is that fruitful and mutually supportive relationships can be forged between individuals and organizations here and in Scotland, in order to assure that the unique Scottish identity and heritage shall become better known and more widely celebrated for the benefit of peoples throughout the world. About The Clan Currie Society The Clan Currie Society is an international, non-profit cultural and educational organization, active in preserving and promoting highland heritage at Scottish Games, ethnic festivals, as well as community groups and classrooms. The Society has over 2,000 members worldwide. The organization started as a family name society in Glasgow, Scotland in 1959 to further the knowledge and appreciation of the MacMhuirich bardic dynasty. The MacMhuirichs served for over 700 years as professional poets to the Lords of the Isles and later to the MacDonalds of Clanranald. The Red Book of Clanranald, one of Gaelic Scotland’s literary treasures, was penned by successive generations of the MacMhuirich family. The Society produces the annual National Tartan Day celebration at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The Society also produces a number of highly successful concerts featuring Scottish music and Gaelic poetry. The Currie Society is now venturing into the field of documentary filmmaking with a concentration on Scottish themes. The Society is represented in the Scottish Coalition through their membership in the Council of Scottish Clans and Associations (COSCA).
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