INTERNATIONAL TARTANS

INTERNATIONAL TARTANS

HEALTH WARNING

Those who value democracy should always be on the lookout for organizations who claim be an 'authority' on tartans, or people who try to tell you what is an 'official' tartan, especially if these organizations are funded by business interests, or are not Scots. At the moment no-one. other than you as a member of the general public has any 'authority9over tartan, and there is no agreed definition for what is or is not official, unless it is a design which is privately owned and can only be used with the permission of the owner. Public bodies, by adopting a tartan such as, for example a US State, are not making that tartan official or exercising any authority, they are merely making it a State symbol in the same way as they make a reptile or flower a State symbol.

The Scottish Tartans Society, including its branch and museum in North Carolina, which was at one time universally recognized as the unofficial 'authority' on tartans, is now defunct.

With the demise of the Scottish Tartans Society the Scottish World Tartans Register was established by the former archivists/researchers of the Scottish Tartans Society, Keith and Elizabeth Lumsden, as means of ensuring a continuing service to the public. They house and preserve all the historical records, samples, manuscripts and publications from the archives of the Scottish Tartans Society. They also operate and control the former Society's website at The World Register of Tartans and provide a full design, research and advisory service on a voluntary basis. Fees are nominal, and they receive no funding from external sources. Their aim is to maintain and preserves these facilities until the Scottish Parliament has enacted legislation which provides for a 'public register' and a permanent home for the archive. For more on this see A Public Register of Tartan.

A second body known as the Scottish Tartans Authority was also established in the wake of the Scottish Tartans Society. They are a membership organization which is effectively controlled by commercial interests. They provide the 'Scottish Tartan Index' on their website.

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