Tracing Our Roots
03 January 2002
The perfect gift
The age-old tradition of gift giving is challenging for some, easy for others. Receiving just the right gift takes a great deal of thought by the giver. It is a personal gesture from which the giver receives as much joy as the receiver does. The perfect gift for anytime during the year whether it is Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Birthday, Christmas, Hanukah, or hostess gift, is a book, mainly because it requires no assembly or batteries! For those who vow this New Year’s to give the genealogist in the family a gift that will be cherished for years to come, please consider the following list that would make the perfect gift for the genealogist in the family, which in my opinion are classics for the practicing family historian.
Betterway Books, the publishing company of quality genealogy books, make their publications available at local bookstores for a nominal price. A few selections from their larder are: Croom’s “Unpuzzling Your Past” and “The Sleuth Book for Genealogists;” Warren’s “Your Guide to the Family History Library;” Carmack’s “A Guide to Discovering Your Immigrant and Ethnic Ancestors;” Allen’s “First Steps in Genealogy;” Schaeffer’s “Hidden Half of the Family:” Hinkley’s “Locating Lost Family Members & Friends;” Melnyk’s “The Weekend Genealogist;” Oppenheimer’s “Long Distance Genealogy.” Other books by Carmack are: “Organizing Your Family History Search;” “A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors.”
For the computer person, Cyndi Howells’ “Cyndi’s List the Book;” Clifford’s “Genealogy, the Internet, and Your Genealogy Computer Program;” Andereck and Pence’s “Computer Genealogy;” or Wilson’s “Publishing Your Family History on the Internet.”
The serious or professional genealogist might enjoy Milton Rubincam’s “Pitfalls in Genealogical Research;” Donald Lines Jacobus’ “Genealogy as Pastime and Profession;” “Ancestry’s Redbook;” Kory Meyerink’s “Printed Sources, A Guide to Published Genealogical Records;” Pfeiffer’s “Hidden Sources, Family History in Unlikely Places;” Hone’s “Land and Property Research in the United States;” Stevenson’s “Genealogical Evidence, A Guide to the Standard of Proof Relating to Pedigrees, Ancestry, Heirship and Family History;" Hatcher’s “Producing a Quality Family History;” or “Black’s Law Dictionary of Legal Terms.”
The scholar would enjoy Greenwood’s “Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy,: 3rd edition; Board for Certification of Genealogists’ “The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual;” or Mills’ “Professional Genealogy, a Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians.”
These are only a few selections, but ones available locally. Any selection from the list would make a quality addition to a personal library for this year or in the future.
Others taking a keen interest in the family historian’s education might want to give a gift certificate for a course or courses taught locally. Check with your local university or community college’s Continuing Education Department. Locally, classes are available at the Collin County Community College located at Preston and Park; at SMU-at-Legacy in North Plano; and at the Richardson Senior Center.
Perhaps this list will reduce your valuable time in hunting just the right gift for that special person interested in collecting family history.
Brenda Kellow, dec'd, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Instructor, had a Bachelor’s Degree in history and taught genealogy courses at the local Community College and computer genealogy at the University.
