Genealogy is a fast growing field of interest to many people all over the world. When you don’t have the genealogy bug it can be hard to figure what your loved one would find the most pleasure to receive. I have put together a list of my favourite genealogy related presents that I would love under my tree this Christmas.
- Magazine Subscription to Australia’s Inside History Magazine– Inside
Genealogy Gifts
History is a bi-monthly magazine for people passionate about Australian and New Zealand genealogy, history and heritage. They offer a 1 years subscription at $50 and saves $9.70 up to a three year subscription for $125 and saves $54.10. I love this magazine as it’s Australian. The British magazines are good but it’s nice to read about history closer to home. https://shop.insidehistory.com.au/product-category/gift-centre/
- Subscription to Ancestry.com – Ancestry.com is really the leader in the searching for genealogy records. Most people have heard of this genealogy search website and I find it very easy to use. For a years subscription a basic package (UK Heritage) is $179.40, medium package(UK Heritage Plus) is $215.40 and the premium package (World Heritage) is $299.98. Santa would have to be very generous to cover these costs, but you never know. www.ancestry.com.au
- Digital Camera – a good camera is essential not only for shooting people, places but mementos and documents. Other features that are important are autofocus, zoom, LCD display, removable memory cards and creative control over exposure and white balance. Look for macro mode if you want to convert old slides to digital images. Also look for removable storage and the ability to take a high memory card. The cost would be around $200 to $500. I can’t narrow it down more than that as I think it’s really a bit of personal preference to what camera people like. When I did a photography subject at University I started my own bias towards Canon cameras.
- Who do you think you are? DVD – Well known celebrities go in search of their family history. There is an Australian, English and US version and all are very interesting, however I do prefer the Australian version. Prices start at $29.99 for a series of two DVD’s with around 6 episodes. They seem to be very popular with the ABC shop, may also need to try amazon. https://shop.abc.net.au/
- Stationary Gift card – Doing genealogy you need to have some stationary. I use a big binder folder that I can zip up, lots of plastic slips, pencils, pen, notebooks etc. I think a gift card is a great idea because different people like to store their information in different ways. Gift cards generally start at $20 and are a great economical gift. I also think being able to order it online and get it sent to the person is another great benefit of a gift card. http://www.officeworks.com.au/
- Genealogy Program – Family Tree Maker, Roots Magic and Legacy seems to be the top picks for most genealogists. Many of the local heritage societies run programs to help people navigate through the software. I have Family Tree Maker as I like how it updates with Ancestry.com but without a full subscription to Ancestry it may not be the right one for your genealogist. I think you should see what program the local heritage society offers knowledge on and go from there. It’s always helpful to know what support you can get with software before you commit. Family Tree Maker is sold through the Ancestry.com websites for $29.99. For Roots magic is sold through their website at https://www.rootsmagic.com/Store/ and they start at $30. Legacy can be found at their website and the downloaded version starts at $30 http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/
- Trip to an Ancestors home – just like on “Who do you Think you are?” the highlight for anyone searching their family history is a trip back to where their ancestors come from. The cost depends on where you need to go but you could either do a Australian search; one of our family’s ancestors mined in Northern NSW and that is on our bucket list of trips. Or you could be really adventurous and take them home to where their original ancestors come from.
- Photo Book of family history photo’s – this takes bit of time to do but can take many forms depending on your skills. It could just be a book of photos that you put together in a photo book that you can order from Big W. http://www.bigwphotos.com.au/category/photo-books/ Or it could be a scrapbook that you design with family photos and other bits of information scattered through. This is a great idea as it makes the photos more easily found and if you name, date and place the photos it can be a great lasting legacy.
- Scanner – I have a scanner in our home office but don’t have the luxury of having a portable scanner. Many times family members have photos or memorabilia that they don’t want to borrow. To have a portable scanner to take to my family’s home and to do research with in libraries and archives would be a god sent. I have my eye on a flip pal scanner. I have seen them on a few genealogy websites and watched the video at www.flip-pal.com .
- Generosity with Ancestry information – the best gift for any genealogy is information about their ancestors. Any bit is another piece in their jigsaw. There is nothing more exciting than someone giving you an old photo or memento or family story to add to your treasured items. The best thing is that it doesn’t cost anything.
Disclosure – I was not paid or given any of these products that I have recommended. I have put a list together on what is my top ten of gifts that I personally like and have used.
I wish you all luck in finding that elusive Christmas present this year.
