Touring the Scottish Tartans Museum

Nothing says “Scotland” as universally around the world as tartan. The colorful, criss-cross patterned fabric is considered the symbolic national dress of the country. While the wearing of tartan dates back hundreds of years, the care, preservation and registration of the thousands of distinct tartan patterns is a relatively recent phenomenon. The popularized clan tartans so many are familiar with today were largely the result of an invented tradition, created in the mid-nineteenth century when tartans were designed and artifically assigned to various clans and families.

A first attempt at naming and registering tartans was begun in 1...