Tartan Stone Dedicated to Indiana
A hand-carved piece of Indiana Limestone was dedicated to the Indiana State Archives, Tuesday, July 30, 2012. California stone carver, Frank Maurer, has traveled the country, providing numerous states with hard-carved pieces of art representing their unique geographical boundaries known as tartan stones. The Indiana Tartan Stone was the 23rd stone presented and features several symbols of Indiana including the Peony, Cardinal, and Tulip Tree. Through the stones, Maurer seeks to draw attention to Scottish-American heritage and Tartan Day.
“The Tartan Stone is a welcome addition to Indiana’s cultural heritage as it commemorates the significant contributions of thousands of Scottish Hoosiers who have contributed to Indiana and the nation,” said Jim Corridan, Director and State Archivist of the Indiana Commission on Public Records.
Tartan day was first declared by the United States Senate as a Resolution in 1998 and later as a national day of recognition in 2008. April 6th was chosen as Tartan Day because the Declaration of Arbroath was written in Arbroath Abbey on that date in 1320, asking for the freedom of Scotland from England. Thomas Jefferson later used this document as a model for the Declaration of Independence. Maurer created the first Tartan Stone in 2000 with a presentation to the California State Archives.
For more information on the stone, visit http://www.in.gov/icpr/3104.htm.
For more information on Tartan Day, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Day.
