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The “Life and Legacy of John Muir” will be the theme for the
15th annual Tartan Day celebration at the Ellis
Island Immigration Museum. Conservationist, author, and
environmental activist, John Muir is renowned as the “father
of America’s national parks”. The exhibition runs from 6
April – 5 September 2016 as part of the National Park
Centennial.
“We’re proud that the National Park Service/Ellis Island has
chosen Tartan Day on Ellis Island to serve as the
springboard for their centennial celebration,” said Robert
Currie, chairman of Tartan Day on Ellis Island. “This event
provides an important opportunity to recognize the vast
contributions of Scots and Scottish-Americans to the
development of the United States.”
The exhibit traces Muir’s remarkable life journey from his
days exploring the moors, mountains, and shoreline
surrounding his childhood home in Dunbar, Scotland, to his
lasting legacy as America’s first passionate conservationist
and the father of the American national parks.
The exhibit is produced by the Clan Currie Society with the
support of a Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel including
participation from the John Muir National Historic Site in
Martinez, CA, the John Muir Birthplace Trust in Dunbar,
Scotland, the Sierra Club in San Francisco, CA and the John
Muir Trust in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Tartan Day on Ellis Island is one of the principal Scottish
heritage events in the United States. Describing the
program, noted Scottish author and editor of Scotland
Magazine, Roddy Martine reported that of all the Tartan Day
events held in the United States, the Ellis Island
observance has, “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.”
Of the approximately 12 million immigrants who came to
America through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954, some
half million were Scots.
The Clan Currie Society began its successful collaboration
with the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in 2002 in the
coordination and sponsorship of the first Tartan Day
celebration. Clan Currie and the National Museums of
Scotland joined forces to host the traveling exhibit, “Home
and Away: Highland Departures and Returns.”
The following year, Clan Currie returned to Ellis Island,
bringing with them four of Scotland’s top crafters for a
hands-on demonstration of their unique talents. The 2003
event was captured in the form of a documentary film
entitled, “The Crafter’s Song.” Narrated by Academy
Award-winning actor, Cliff Robertson, “The Crafter’s Song”
is the first documentary produced in America about National
Tartan Day. The video can be viewed on Clan Currie’s YouTube
Channel at
https://www.youtube.com/user/clancurrie.
In the following years, the Tartan Day program has presented
a wide range of exhibits ranging from the “Jacobites and
America,” to “Captain Kidd and the Hangman’s Noose.” The
2012 program – “A Celebration of Tartan” – became the
world’s largest Tartan Day program. Organizers are certain
the 2016 program will far exceed the 2012 record of over 70
thousand visitors.
Tartan Day on Ellis Island is the country’s leading Tartan
Day celebration. For additional information, visit:
www.tartandayonellisisland.com
or at
www.facebook.com/TartanDayonEllisIsland.
About John Muir
John Muir, the legendary wilderness explorer and writer who
served as the first President of the Sierra Club, has
achieved something of mythic proportions, over 150 years
after his birth. His life, work, and vision have inspired
countless Americans to appreciate and protect the natural
world.
Born in Scotland, April 21, 1838, John Muir immigrated to
the United States with his family when he was eleven years
old. He traveled to California in the spring of 1868 and
explored the high country of the Sierra Nevada, making
California his life-long home. He also traveled widely in
Alaska and throughout the American West, writing numerous
books and articles describing natural wonders and arguing
for the need to preserve wilderness.
When Muir traveled around the world in his later years, he
inspired people all over the globe to protect places of
special beauty and wildness. His life is celebrated by the
existence of Yosemite National Park, which he was
instrumental in establishing in 1890. In 1976, the
California Historical Society voted Muir the greatest
Californian in the state's history. Geographic place names
for Muir exist in Alaska, California, Florida, Washington
State, Wisconsin, and in his birthplace, Dunbar, Scotland.
Documentary film maker Ken Burns said of Muir, "As we got to
know him... he ascended to the pantheon of the highest
individuals in our country; I'm talking about the level of
Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, and Thomas
Jefferson, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jackie Robinson --
people who have had a transformational effect on who we
are."
About the National Park Centennial and National Park Week
The National Park Service is celebrating 100 years of
sharing America’s special places and helping Americans make
meaningful connections to nature, history and culture.
The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island are
playing a meaningful role in honoring the Centennial of the
National Park Service by offering many new public programs
and exhibits celebrating the first hundred years and
connecting with the next generation of leaders so they may
lead us well into our next century. The national parks are
America’s best idea and we want all Americans to help us
celebrate these special places.
National Park
Week,
April
16 to 24, 2016,
is America's largest celebration of national heritage. It's
about making great connections, exploring amazing places,
discovering open spaces, enjoying affordable vacations and
enhancing America’s best idea—the national parks! It's all
happening in
your
national parks. The National Park Service is once again
partnering with the National Park Foundation, the official
charity of America's national parks, to present National
Park Week, a presidentially proclaimed celebration of our
national heritage
About Tartan Day
Tartan Day is a celebration of Scottish heritage held on
April 6, the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath
was signed in Scotland in 1320. The Declaration is in the
form of letters submitted to Pope John XXII intended to ask
his support in the preservation of Scotland as
an independent state. Letters were written to the pope by
King Robert the Bruce, the Scottish Clergy and the Scottish
Nobles.
Americans of Scottish descent have played a vibrant and
influential role in the development of the United States.
From the framers of the Declaration of Independence to the
first man on the moon, Scottish-Americans have contributed
mightily to the fields of the arts, science, politics, law,
and more. Today, over eleven million Americans claim
Scottish and Scots-Irish roots — making them the eighth
largest ethnic group in the United States. These are the
people and accomplishments that are honored in the United
States on National Tartan Day, April 6th. Thousands of
Scots-Americans found ways to observe the first Tartan Day
in churches, on village greens, at Scottish festivals, at
social gatherings, and in the home.
The first National Tartan Day in the United States (inspired
by Canadian National Tartan Day Celebrations) was observed
on April 6, 1997. Previously, there had been observances by
individual states, counties and other regional entities, but
the year 1997 was the first time the observance swept across
the nation. The United States Senate Resolution declaring
April 6th as Tartan Day appeared in the
Congressional Record on April 7, 1997. |