As a self-proclaimed family historian, I know that these five, memorable, DIY gift ideas are doable, inexpensive, and would mean so very much to the recipient.
Several have to do with photos and that’s because unless your ancestors had a great deal of celebrity status it’s unlikely that family photos exist anywhere but in the old photo albums, boxes, and storage cabinets of other relatives. You may be sitting on a gold mine of a present and not even realize the importance that material would have for whomever is tracking your own family’s lineage.
Though, sitting on a batch of old, 19th century photos is not the only way to create something special. In fact, most of us could come up with something amazing with just a few tricks using Google. Yup – let the search engine find you some special information and you’ll be able to come up with a very unique gift. I’ll show you just how easy this can be!
Idea #1 – Gather Family Photos and Family Bible Information
Many family historians aren’t interested in just their own immediate family but also in the ancestors of extended family. Suppose you are married and your aunt is a family history nut. Your aunt would not have access to your spouse’s family photos but those photos would be just as meaningful to her as the ones she might already have for your side of the family.
Photos with dates, places, and names of the people in them will give the recipient a whole new string of leads to follow – which is like receiving a bunch of presents all at once and sure to keep them active for months if not years.
The same goes for family bibles. If you have a family bible from a spouse’s side of the family, take photocopies to include with any pictures. You’d be amazed at what can be done with the information in a simple list of names and birth dates scrawled into such a book.
These photos might also allow your relative to fill in some blank spots on any visual presentation of your family tree. I use Ancestry.com which lets you upload photos and tie them to a specific person but also lets you choose a profile image for each person. There’s nothing quite so depressing as seeing you have all these blank profile images in your tree and then finding a tree for someone else that’s loaded with these amazing pictures from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Reach out to other family members, too, to get these kinds of photos. Your family member may not have asked your cousin what photos they may have that could help them in their research. You could uncover some new finds by just making a couple of phone calls to your closest family (or even to family you haven’t talked to in awhile!).
You could also take still images from old family movies and include those in the mix. Those are photos that aren’t likely to exist anywhere else so the holder of that movie has something unique to share.
Then, bundle all your finds in a nice gift basket or bag along with a hand written note and a bow – even some homemade cookies, if you’re so inclined – and your present will surely earn a wonderful hug of appreciation.
Idea #2 – Binder of Online Family Tidbits
Google is an incredible research tool for the keeper of your family’s history but not everyone knows how to use it effectively. In just a few hours you could have a great list of resources that your relative may not know existed.
Such a list could provide them some new leads for information they might not have found otherwise.
Get familiar with Google’s search operators and use them to do unique searches related to names in your own tree. If your great-grandparents have unusual last names, you could do a search for anything on the web that includes a reference to each name. Throw in another filter that mentions only those two last names and includes a reference to a specific city, state, country or date range.
Doing such searches can uncover surprising tidbits. For example, my ancestors were very active in New York and I found that a blog post that explained that a street in Brooklyn was (most likely) named after my after my 6th great-grandfather and his family who owned a large tract of land in the area in the 1700-1800s.
If you find a number of pages online that look like they pertain to your family, print them out and clip them together in a binder, highlight the parts of each page that caught your attention and wrap the bundle in pretty, vintage paper with a nice bow. The family historian will devour each page as if it were the most fascinating book in the world.
Again, this makes the best present for anyone who is not already versed in doing such searches for themselves – otherwise they may have already found this information.
Idea #3 – A Memory Journal Full of Questions
You know the old saying that implies doctors don’t take care of themselves – which we generally apply to all kinds of professions? Accountants do a horrible job with their own finances, housekeepers might not clean their own houses very well, etc…(these are all just stereotypes – not real facts). Well, family historians might do a great job keeping track of family records and yet neglect documenting their OWN story.
Prod them into action by gifting them a memory journal. Just get a standard, blank diary book. If you’re the crafty sort you could make a scrapbook or decorate the cover.
Then, put a question at the top of every other page such as:
- Where did you go to Kindergarten or elementary school and what did you like best about school?
- Who were your best friends when you were growing up and what funny stories do you remember of your times with those friends?
- Who helped you plan your wedding?
- What was your favorite family vacation that you went on with your parents?
- At what age did you first start working and what was your first job?
- What was your first car?
- Who taught you to drive?
- Did your family have a favorite vacation destination they visited frequently?
- What did you most want to be when you grew up?
You get the gist – ask questions that will pull out those wonderful, personal stories that are often lost in the course of time so that they’ll be saved forever and passed along from generation to generation.
Idea #4 – Framed Historical Map Meaningful to Your Family
Someplace, somewhere is a map that would be of special value to your family historian. I can think of several for my own family. Some of my ancestors were significant players in the establishing of Manhattan. I’d love a street map showing the area at that time.
Or, another branch of my family came from Austria-Hungary which was then split apart at the end of WWI such that the places they were from now have new names. I’d love a large, rich, fully detailed map of the area before the split that I could refer to during my own research or share with my children when they ask questions about where their ancestors came from when they moved to the US.
You’re sure to find a map that would be interesting for your own family online. Save the image to a hard drive and use a printing service to have it enlarged. This usually only costs a few dollars. Then, find a great frame so that it could be hung on a wall or roll it up like a scroll and tie a vintage ribbon around it.
Idea #5 – Old Newspaper Article Scrapbook
There are lots of old newspapers that are archived online – including many that can be searched through for free. Fulton History is one such resource which is ideal for anyone who has family who lived in the state of New York (although they also have newspapers for other states, too).
My mother’s father and his four brothers all served in WWWII and there are quite a number of stories in old papers talking about them going, coming home for a visit, getting a promotion, or serving on a certain ship. I could put together a whole slew of stories about just these 5 men and their naval activities.
My father, too, is a passionate pursuer of family history and, in fact, much of the information I have for his side of the family came from him. His father – my grandfather – was born in the US to Hungarian parents who arrived in the early 1900s. My grandfather was quite the jock and played basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer. For a stretch of several years there were regular articles about in him newspapers from his area in the 1920s to the 1930s.
As a gift, I printed all that I could find and assembled them in a book for my father as a present. Until we’d found these articles my father didn’t even know about some of the sports that his father played. We also didn’t know that a couple of my grandfather’s sisters (and he had quite a few) married teammates that also played with my grandfather.
This gave us such a fascinating insight into a piece of life and culture in my grandfather’s time. We can picture him running from school to work to sports and his sisters tagging along to watch or his teammates coming over to his house and a few developing a shy, budding friendship with a charming sister or two. It must have been quite a busy household!
If you live near a family research center or in an area where your ancestors lived you might find old newspapers available for searching in your local library. If you can find those articles and take copies, you can use them to build an article scrapbook.
Focus on one relative or find any article that involve one branch of the family. Those articles are also really useful in filling in gaps in the family tree. You might find a report of a bridal shower listing all the attendees – at least several of whom will also be relatives. You might find a report of grades received at school or that an ancestor regularly won her school’s spelling bee. Newspapers 50 or more years ago reported on all kinds of local stories that would be considered very strange and unimportant in today’s newspaper but are of huge value for genealogical research.
There you have it! Five great gift ideas you can make that any family genealogist would love to have.