Scots-Americans Observe National Tartan Day

In observance of National Tartan Day - April 6th - an exhibition of Distinguished Scots and Scots-Americans was presented at the Vineyard Haven Public Library during the month of April. The exhibit was designed by Max Bossman of Vineyard Haven and features approximately 20 individuals of Scottish heritage, a list that includes John Logie Baird, who invented television; Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts USA; novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott; Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin; and contemporary figures such as Robert MacNeil, PBS broadcaster, chairnan of The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H.

The exhibit included several personalities who had ties to the Vineyard:  James Naismith, who invented the Game of Basketball; New York Times correspondent James "Scotty" Reston; publisher Malcolm Forbes, who visited the Island on his yacht, The Highlander; and Katharine Hepburn, who enjoyed long conversations with Argie Humphreys on the steps of his Bakery in West Tisbury. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, had a special interest in persons who were deaf and visited the Deaf Colony in Chilmark.  And few will need to be reminded that it was Andrew Carnegie who gave the country over 3,000 public libraries.

A copy of U.S. Senate Resolution 155 wasfeatured, concluding with the words, "Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Senate designates April 6 of each year as 'National Tartan Day.'"

The exhibit was presented under the auspices of The Caledonian Foundation USA in cooperation with the Friends of the Library and the Scottish Society of Martha's Vineyard.