The Status of the New Scotland Website

Invitation to Nova Scotia Scots & Clans

Dear Visitor to our New Scotland website:

We are encouraged by the Feedback we receive about our website for Scottish Heritage in New Scotland (if you must speak Latin, that's Nova Scotia!). To have visitors take the time to thank us for our efforts and share their views, is most rewarding and encourages us to continue.

Indeed, while many visitors comment on how comprehensive and varied the website is, even in its early stages of development, others, on occasion, express disappointment that a specific clan site is not complete or that the links are not fully operational. These messages also encourage us, for they too express sincere interest in our efforts. To all of you who contacted us, a sincere THANK YOU!

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things!" And we must now address this misunderstanding, those seemingly incomplete and neglected homepages for "MacWhoever."



With more than 460 Scottish Clans, Septs, and Families, each with existing or proposed generic homepages on this website, it is not possible, nor our intention, to bring them all to completion concurrently.

I am working on this project on my own personal time (along with a few loyal supporters and contributors), and even then, I am hindered by inadequate computing and multi media equipment capabilities. We accepted these limitations (IBM 286 computer, no Netscape) when we undertook this website and do our best, hoping our readers enjoy the product and understand the size of the undertaking with the many challenges we face.

And, while we have decided to put all generic Clan homepages up at once (template style for obvious efficiency reasons), as mentioned before, we do not have the tools nor the resources to complete them all in the near term.

Along with the Clan information, there are also a myriad of related endeavours that we would like to incorporate in the future. For example, we have resolved Copyright issues for a small publication outlining the conflicts of the Clans for the past millenium, posted it in the History of the Scots in Scotland section. In addition, we are preparing an index of the clans involved in specific conflicts, which will permit us to provide links from each Clan homepage to the battles in which that Clan took part. This is one of the many "global clan projects" we have in queue, which will augment the information submitted for the clan homepages. And, that's not to mention the chore of flagging the many annual Scottish events where we are admittedly a tad lacking in coverage on this website.

That said, I/we do get numerous comments relative to certain pages being incomplete and/or requests for additional Clan specific information. Rest assured, if I had information prepared in such form as I could readily e-mail it to someone personally, it would be included on the Website (assuming there are no Copyright issues to resolve). Also, we refrain from complying with requests to post or fax source information directly, as we do not feel it is appropriate to charge professional research and expense fees for material that should be on the website eventually.

All messages, including those expressing concern relative to incomplete pages, encourage us greatly. They confirm that there is considerable interest and need for this website, and inspire us to continue. We attempt to answer each message within the available time and information, and hope that our replies are helpful to those who took time to comment.

In our Mission Statement for this website, we decided to offer Scottish Clansfolk and Scottish Clan Societies operating within Nova Scotia an opportunity to develop their very own Clan homepage, and to participate in building its general and specific information base. This is a Scottish heritage community project within Nova Scotia, and the involvement of Nova Scotian Scots will ultimately determine the direction of its growth and content.

Many provinces and communities have established an Adopt-A-Highway plan; possibly we could move the yardsticks significantly with an expanded Adopt-A-Clan Page effort for Clan societies operating within Nova Scotia. Individuals are also invited to submit information. Specifically, we need folks from Nova Scotia (or with ancestral roots in Nova Scotia) to come to the forefront on this. Some have already joined us, and made major contributions to the growth and success of this site. We need more.

When established by Sir William Alexander and King James in the early 1600s, New Scotland (Nova Scotia) included most of what is known as the Maritime provinces today. Participation in this website is open (and indeed encouraged) to all Scots within the original New Scotland (Nova Scotia): the Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.

While this might unfortunately displease some of our more distant neighbours, we hope they will understand that we are attempting to remain faithful to our originalMission Statement and Vision for this site. This is, first and foremost, a Nova Scotia Scottish site, created to celebrate the Scottish heart and heritage of our New Scotland home in all its richness and intrigue. It is, and is meant to be, a project we can share together in promoting our New Scotland with pride.

We/I hope that anyone reading the preceding will do so in the spirit intended. Have patience, keep the faith, and, if you have ties to Nova Scotia, help where ye can. See Invitation to Nova Scotia Scots & Clans

Kindest regards,

Janet MacKay, B.R.E., B.Sc.
Freelance Journalist/Photographer
Research specialities:
Nova Scotia History
Scottish Heritage in Nova Scotia
Genealogy of Nova Scotia Scots
Currently residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)

PS: and if anyone wants to ship us a fully loaded Pentium computer with all the toys (fast multi-speed CD ROM, high speed Modem, etc, etc), we would be forever grateful.

A Project of The Clan MacKay Society of New Scotland;
with Scots, Clans and Clan Societies in New Scotland (Nova Scotia)

[Credits] Standard Disclaimer
Copyright (C) 1995 * All Rights Reserved