Last Minute Gift Ideas

With contributions from Winston Atkins, Preservation Librarian

Never fear, your secret holiday helper is here! We have for you some last minute gift ideas for Hanukkah, Christmas, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa or New Year’s.

Heck, these make great hostess gifts, thank-you gifts, or birthday gifts, especially if someone’s birthday falls smack dab in the middle of all of these holidays (ahem).

Gifts under $20

• Optical Media Pen to safely mark your DVD’s.
• Bookbinder’s awl to make sewing stations (don’t poke your eye out, kid).
• Really nice microspatulas from Polistini, you can never have enough good spatulas.
• Museum Pest Voodoo Doll, collect them all for hours of pinning fun!
• William Barrow’s classic “Permanence/Durability of the Book, Test Data of Naturally Aged Papers,” because accelerated aging just isn’t the same.

Gifts to $50

• Field Guide to Disaster Response and Disaster Wheel, always be prepared.
• Archival baseball collectible box, keeps them and your bats safe at home.
• Textile Preservation Kit for Great Grandpa’s Army uniform (other kits available).
• Self powered radio or a Wireless weather station make great additions to a disaster kit.
• Caring for Your Collections, a guide for the serious collector or curator.
• The Preservation Manager’s Guide to Cost Analysis, a must-have for figuring out what things really cost.

Gifts to $100

• Line, Shade and Shadow: The Fabrication and Preservation of Architectural Drawing, by Lois Olcott-Price, leading expert in these things.
• Cutting Is More Fun print from Jeff Peachey (really, ANYTHING from Mr. Peachey is great, especially his knives).
• Digitization Basics workshop by CCAHA.
• It’s membership season, how about a membership to ALA, AIC, SAA or AMIA or their local or state preservation organization.

Gifts over $100

• IPI’s Aesthics, Craft and Care of the Fine Art Print workshop, five days of hands-on experience.
• Archeaology of Bookbinding by John Szirmai, a fantastic resource for early binding history.
  
• Pergamena vellum-making workshop. DIY vellum!
• Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like a Nilfisk Vacuum cleaner.
• Digitizing Vintage Photographs workshop by NEDCC.
• IPI’s Aesthics, Craft and Care of the Fine Art Print workshop, five days of hands-on experience.

The usual disclaimer: Listing does not imply endorsement of any product or vendor.