Your guide to genealogy-related gift ideas to add to your own holiday wish list in 2023!

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Genealogical Reference Books

There are so many books to choose from, but these are my go-to books and I recommend them for anyone working on their genealogy.

In addition to these general resources, there are some topic-specific books that I also highly recommend. They include:

Genealogical & Historical Non-Reference Books

And then there are some interesting reads, including:

Genealogical & Historical Fiction Books

Most genealogists love a good mystery book…these have a genealogical or historical twist:

You can find more history- and genealogy-related mysteries here (there are a bunch!).

Magazines

Some of my favorite genealogy magazines include:

Society Memberships

There are plenty of genealogical and historical societies out there at all levels: national, regional, state, and local. Two of the more popular national/regional societies are the National Genealogical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Professional-related societies include the Association of Professional Genealogists and the American Historical Association. To find other societies, start with the listing provided at Cyndi’s List.

Software & Apps

These are the most popular genealogy database programs:

In addition, there are plenty of other genealogy-related software tools that might be of interest to you:

And don’t forget about photo-editing software to help you preserve your photo collection and documents. I personally use Photoshop because I also use several other Adobe products in the Creative Cloud. I’ve heard that Photoshop Elements is a cheaper alternative to Photoshop and still provides a wide range of capabilities suitable to the needs of genealogists. Another option popular among genealogists is Vivid-Pix RESTORE.

If you are looking for digital photo and/or document storage, then FOREVER Storage may be for you. FOREVER is a unique cloud-based storage system that lasts for your lifetime plus 100 years. Basically, you buy storage space (not via subscription!) and then you own it and the company’s protocols make it possible for your FOREVER Storage archive to live on after you’re gone. You can start out with 2GB for free to check it out and play around with it to see if it’s something you want to invest in. Plus, they have photo organization software called Historian, as well as stuff for digital scrap booking. They also have a way to create products with your photos, such as mugs, calendars, photo books, puzzles, and more. Need to get your stuff digitized? They have a service for that too!

A non-genealogy program that may be of interest to you is Folder Marker. You could color code surname folders based on the color associated with your grandparents’ lines (blue for paternal grandfather, green for paternal grandmother, red for maternal grandfather, and yellow for maternal grandmother), or use it for projects, client work, and other things.

Subscription Websites
  • Ancestry.com – Lots of stuff! Records and indexes, variety of types covering many places. Make sure you specify if you want a US or World subscription.
  • Fold3 – Their focus is on military-related records. However, they also have a big collection of non-military records including city directories, newspapers, and censuses. You can get this with an All Access Ancestry subscription.
  • Newspapers.com – Lots of digitized newspapers from 1700s to 2000s. Upgrade for complete access. You can get this with an All Access Ancestry subscription (but would still need to upgrade for complete access).
  • GenealogyBank – Oodles of newspapers at your fingertips. This is my personal favorite website for newspaper research. They also have a Historical Documents collection, which has some rather interesting resources.
  • Findmypast – Major focus is on the UK and Ireland, however they are adding US record collections all the time. Of particular interest is their British and Irish newspaper collection.
  • MyHeritage – Good set of records “including the world’s largest collection of newspapers.”
Tools & Gadgets

There are many tools out there that come in handy for the genealogist. Here are a few of my favorites:

  • Kindle Fire – Now known as Fire tablets, there are many options to suit anyone’s need. As far as genealogy is concerned, here’s my story. I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas in 2011 and had no idea how much I would use it for genealogy. I went an entire week at the Family History Library with only the Fire, while my laptop stayed in the hotel room. It’s also great to have my genealogy database at my fingertips for those times when I’m at a family gathering and people start asking questions…quick, easy access, and they have their answer. You can read more about how I use my Kindle Fire for genealogy here. Not into the Kindle? Consider other tablets or the iPad.
  • Brother DS-640 Mobile Scanner – I’ve had this DS-600 version of this scanner for several years and I love it. The great thing about this mobile feed scanner is that you can scan legal pages in one scan. It’s also a great backup for when the Flip-Pal batteries are dead. Although I don’t have one, I hear a lot of people talk about hand-held “wand” scanners as another mobile scanner option.
  • CZUR Aura-B Book and Document Scanner – I recently saw a genealogist rave about this…it may go on my own wish list this year!
  • Wolverine Titan 8-in-1 High Resolution Film to Digital Converter – An older version of this product had been on my own wish list for years—the new version does even more! It has a great rating and is exactly what I need to convert all of the film, slides, and negatives I have in my possession.
DNA Testing Kits

There are now five major players in the arena for genealogical autosomal DNA testing.

Education

There a several educational opportunities available to us. Why not add one of these opportunities to your list?

Jewelry

I love jewelry and family history, so why not combine them? There are plenty of jewelry items out there, many of them customizable to include the birthstones of children. But since I don’t have any children, I tend to gravitate to the one’s without the customizable stones. Here are some of my favorites:

T-Shirts & Sweatshirts

I have all sorts of genealogy-related T-shirts and sweatshirts. Here are some of my favorites.

Novelty Items

Anything with a genealogy touch always makes a great gift: T-shirts, mouse pads, notebooks, mugs, etc. These are the two places I go when I want to give myself a genealogy-related gift:

What about you? Do you have any suggestions? What are you asking for this holiday season? Leave a comment and let me know.

© Julie Tarr. This article was first published at Julie’s Genealogy & History Hub; appearance of this article elsewhere, without my permission, violates copyright.