The Scottish Tartans Society (STS), now defunct, was a society

Society

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

 committed to the recording and preservation of woven tartan

Tartan

Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...

 designs from around the world; it maintained the Register of All Publicly Known Tartans. The society was first formed in 1963 and existed for about 40 years. The Scottish Tartans Society ceased to record new tartan designs in about the year 2000, having recorded about 2,700 different designs. Today, Scottish Tartans World Register (STWR) keeps the archives of the STS and has assumed the job of recording new tartans upon request, and has about 3,000 different tartan designs recorded and registered.

Creation and closure

The Scottish Tartans Society was first formed in 1963, by several scholars of tartan and highland dress, with the encouragement of the Lord Lyon King of Arms

Lord Lyon King of Arms

The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, the oldest...

. The society set out to preserve and record every woven tartan known, including clan tartans and artifacts from several museums and private collections. The society also strove to promote the research into highland dress, and to assist in the designing of new tartans. It was also a recognised charity, under Scots law

Scots law

Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...

. The society's register of tartans was known as the Register of All Publicly Known Tartans. This register was originally a physical collection, consisting of tartans and fabrics. Later, however, the register was eventually transferred to computer in the form of an electronic database. In 1976, the society was accounted as an "Incorporation Noble in the Noblesse of Scotland", being granted a coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The society established a museum of tartan, In 1988, the society established a museum of tartan and highland dress in Highlands

Highlands, North Carolina

Highlands is an incorporated town in Macon County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located on a plateau in the southern Appalachian Mountains, within the Nantahala National Forest, it lies mostly in southeastern Macon County and slightly in southwestern Jackson County, in the Highlands and...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, USA. In the 1994, the museum moved to Franklin

Franklin, North Carolina

Franklin is a town in Franklin Township, Macon County, North Carolina, United States, within the Nantahala National Forest. The population was 3,490 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Macon County. Franklin is an official Appalachian Trail friendly destination...

, North Carolina, where it exists today. In 1996, several members of the society left to create their own organisation, called the Scottish Tartans Authority, or (STA)

Scottish Tartans Authority

The Scottish Tartans Authority is a Scottish based organisation dedicated to promoting the knowledge of Scottish tartans. It was first formed in 1995 by former members of the Scottish Tartans Society. The Scottish Tartans Authority maintains a database, called the International Tartan Index, with...

. The Scottish Tartans Society ran into financial difficulties and ceased to record new tartan designs around the year 2000. By this time, about 2,700 tartans had been recorded by the society. Among the tartans recorded by the society are clan or family, district, individual, commemorative and various other tartans. The society is now defunct.

Birth of the Scottish Tartans World Register

The archives of the Scottish Tartans Society have been kept, since STS's closure, by the Scottish Tartans World Register, and remain with STWR as of 2008. This organisation is a non-authoritative body, which aims to record any tartan, new or old, upon request. This organisation was formed by the consultant to the Scottish Tartans Society. STWR is the trading name of a registered company, Tartan Registration Limited. This company is also a registered Scottish Charity.

Their database, also called the Scottish Tartans World Register, is based upon the Register of All Publicly Known Tartans, and consists of a computer database, of about 3,000 tartan designs. The STWR currently registers any tartans upon request. The STWR will either "note" a design, free of charge, or formally "register" any tartan at the cost of £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

50.

External links

• The Scottish Tartans World Register, official website of the Scottish Tartans World Register. Contains free information on its list of registered tartans.