Speaking to the Atlanta Burns Club

**M. A. C. Newsome** · 8th June 10, 11:42 AM

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to the monthly meeting of the Atlanta Burns Club to be the guest speaker for June.

My talk was entitled "The Sources of the Tartans" and was a much abridged (due to time constraints) version of what you see here.

The Atlanta Burns Club is a social, literary and cultural society founded in 1896. The building they meet in is a replica of the cottage Robert Burns was born in, built in 1910. It's a really neat place, and I'm ashamed to say that last week was my very first visit to the historic location.

I was given a wonderful "nickel tour" of the facilities by member James Kirkpatrick, and then was treated to a delicious pot-luck dinner in their dining hall (the barn of the original cottage). After the dinner I gave my talk and spent some time answering questions. The Burns Club is truly a neat group of individuals. I was told that they have been meeting monthly since their founding in 1896, which is truly remarkable.

Here is a photo of the cottage itself. I took it the morning after my talk, on my way out of town, with the advantage of daylight. :-)

Here are a few photos of me addressing the Burns Club, taken by one of their members.

Here I am after the talk. One of the club members wanted a picture of me next to "the bard."

For more information on the Burns Club and their cottage:
-Wikipedia
-Electric Scotland (this article is by Frank Shaw, one of the club members)
-National Park Service

**Woot22** · 8th June 10, 01:07 PM

Very cool, you are also very lucky to have been invited. From what I read from the links you provided this is a pretty exclusive organization with quite a bit of history, very interesting indeed.