10 Gift Ideas for the Historian or Genealogist in Your Life
December 3, 2021
If you have a historian in the family or a genealogist on your list for the 2021 holiday gift-giving season, you’re probably already well aware that shopping for such skilled and knowledgeable folks can be a little intimidating!
How do you surprise or impress someone who already knows so much about so many things?
Hopefully, the following guide will give you some inspiration and help you pick out the perfect present that they’ll surely love.
1. Subscriptions! Subscriptions! Subscriptions!
Online databases are extremely useful when researching family history but maintaining their monthly subscriptions can be a real drag for historians and genealogists.
Brighten your favorite researcher’s holiday season this year by giving them the gift of access to one of the top three genealogical sites.
Ancestry
Ancestry is often regarded as the best overall value in genealogical research sites.
My Heritage
MyHeritage doesn’t offer as huge a database as Ancestry, but you’ll still find a lot of value on this more fun-focused site.
Find My Past
2. Legacy Box Media Preservation
Your family’s historian has assuredly amassed a collection of old photos and assorted media. This year, give them the gift of preservation!
Legacy Box is a company that digitizes or “future proofs” your old family photos, film reels, VHS tapes, and even audio cassettes.
Digitization packages start as low as $21.
3. A Really Cool Magnifying Glass
4. A Digital Recording Device
Genealogists and historians alike take lots of notes and conduct a lot of interviews. Their to-do lists are always expanding. A digital recording device is a great way to manage the chaos.
The EVISTR 16GB Digital Voice Recorder is a highly rated budget option that will get the job done for only $39.99 on Amazon.
The Tascam DR-40X, priced at $199, is a higher end option that can record 192 hours of studio quality sound direct to an SD card. The internal battery can record non-stop for 18 hours on a full charge.
5. Paper and Ink
Ink and paper are ancient technologies that work so well together that they’re still quite useful to this day—and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Smartphones and tablets have undoubtedly brought more than a few convenience miracles to the table, but they’ll never beat the feel and familiarity of a quality notebook and a solid writing implement when it comes to making lists, jotting down notes, or making a quick sketch.
While Montblanc is known for fountain pens that sell for nearly $40,000, the Montblanc Meisterstück Platinum-Coated Rollerball, may be the best high-end pen on the market.
When it comes to paper, the Apica Premium A6 CD Notebook is often cited as the very best on the market.
For a more modern look, the LEUCHTTURM1917 – Medium A5 Ruled Hardcover Notebook is another great choice at a slightly higher price point.
6. A Family Tree Chart
This one is a particularly handsome specimen and a steal for only $17.05!
7. A Time Capsule Kit
And this 100 Piece Time Capsule Preservation Kit is the perfect add-on for ensuring that whatever documents you choose to include will stand up against the test of time.
8. DNA Kits
The following test kits are comparatively priced and consistently rank among the best on the market for gaining deeper insight into your origins:
It can even connect you with their siblings and relatives via Embark’s extensive social network!
9. A My Heritage Family Discovery Kit
A My Heritage Family Discovery Kit combines DNA testing, ancestry research, and scrapbooking in an attractive giftset for only $79.99!
10. A Mini Museum
Finally, we’ve saved the best for last.
If you’ve been pulling your hair out trying to come up with a gift for the history buff on your list, a Mini Museum is THE THING that you’ve been looking for.
Well, now you can thanks to the offerings at MiniMuseum.com!
While the site sells many gifts for under $20, you can also purchase certified fossils, rare gems, and meteorite jewelry, or, if you’re feeling really generous, you can even pick up a shield window from the Manhattan Project for a cool $3.4 million!
Hopefully, this list has given you some ideas for how to surprise the historian or genealogist in your life with a gift that they’ll truly cherish.
Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays from all of us at The Writers for Hire!