By Kate Shilling — 15th December 2022
If you have a friend or loved one who’s as passionate about genealogy as you are, give them a gift that will truly light them up. Better still, get yourself a little something from our eclectic gift guide and set yourself up for a fabulous new year of amateur sleuthing.
A Lasting Tale
This wonderful concept is a gift for both the giver and the receiver. A Lasting Tale is a professional interview conducted with your loved one and then produced as a high-quality audio story you can keep forever. As well as unearthing untold stories from the past, this is a great way to journey through your loved one’s most important memories, to hear their words of wisdom and keep their voice alive long into the future.
Family Tree Charts
Of course, many people create their family trees using digital apps these days, but there’s still something special about holding a three-dimensional family tree chart in your hands, running your finger along the branches and adding names by hand. Etsy has an array of beautiful hand-crafted family tree charts allowing for up to eight generations.
Vintage maps
Genealogy buffs love gazing at old maps of the cities and towns that have historical significance. Talk to the council of your ancestry home town and see if you can hunt down a vintage map of the region. Place it in a rustic frame as a beautiful wall piece for the family historian in your life.
Historical Societies
A membership to a local historical society is not just a practical gift, offering access to records that your loved one won’t find anywhere else, it also provides a new social outlet with like-minded souls who are equally passionate about unravelling the mysteries of their family tree. You could even throw in a genealogy membership to websites like ancestry or Geni (a family tree building service).
Memoir service
Consider gifting a subscription to StoryWorth to encourage your loved one to write their memoir. The service emails a weekly life story question each week, with each response compiled and bound into a hardcover book at the end of the year.
If none of these ideas hit the spot, perhaps a high-quality magnifying glass could be the perfect stocking filler for an up-close examination of ancient records and old photographs.
