That stack of recipe cards in the kitchen drawer is a family treasure. We'll scan every card, clipping and note into a searchable digital collection your whole family can keep, share and cook from, and your originals come back to you.
See a sample
Flip through a real family's partial collection: all 48 scans and 98 recipes, made at each level. Try the clickable contents and search, just like you would in your own. Examples of our extras, like restoration and oversize pages, are at the end.
How it works
- Place this $25 deposit and answer a few questions about your collection.
- Drop your recipes off at our Main Street shop in Ames, or mail them to us.
- We count and sort your recipes and send you a final price to approve before any work begins.
- We scan and organize your collection, then send you a watermarked proof with your order total so far. Mark up anything you'd like changed, or ask us anything. Your first round of changes is free; each round after that is $10. Our mistakes are always fixed free.
- Once you approve, we deliver your full-quality collection by download link or USB. Your originals come back to you.
Ready in up to 2 weeks, or up to 3 weeks with restoration, traced, perfected or handwritten recipes.
Find more recipes later? We keep your files for 1 year. We add new recipes at our regular prices, plus $10 to update your collection.
Your deposit counts toward your total. It also covers our $25 minimum order.
Step 1: Scanning (priced per side)
| Option | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Fast scan | Most cards and pages up to 8.5" wide and 14" long | $0.50 / side |
| Flatbed scan | Fragile pages, colored or decorated cards, writing near the edge | $1 / side |
| Large page, keep the whole article | Feature stories and photos you want intact, up to 11 x 14 | $10 / page |
| Large page, keep the whole article | Up to 16 x 20 | $15 / page |
| Large page, recipes only | Big pages where you only need the recipes, scanned in pieces and cropped to the recipes | $1 / scan |
Fast scanning is quick and affordable, but words close to the edge may be cut off, and colored paper can scan slightly off-color. Not sure which you need? Choose "recommend for me" and we'll decide card by card.
Step 2: Choose your collection
| Collection | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Family Cookbook | All your scans in one searchable PDF, with clickable A to Z and by-category contents, bookmarks, page numbers, each recipe as its own named file, and your family name on every page | Organizing fee by size (below) |
| Heirloom Edition | Everything in Family Cookbook, plus a typed copy beside each handwritten recipe so every word is searchable | Organizing fee, plus $4 / handwritten side and $1 / printed clipping |
Organizing fee, by number of sides scanned:
- Up to 25 sides: $15
- 26 to 100 sides: $35
- 101 to 200 sides: $60
- 201 to 300 sides: $85
- Over 300 sides: $25 for each additional 100
We count your sides and confirm the fee before any work begins.
Printed recipes from magazines and newspapers get their source and ingredients typed. Published recipe text is protected by copyright, so the full original page sits right beside it.
Extras for faded or hard-to-read recipes
| Service | What we do | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Restoration | Faded, gray newsprint cleaned up to crisp, readable text | $20 / page |
| Traced original | An exact retrace of their handwriting, word for word and mark for mark. Nothing changed, only clearer. | $15 to $29 by length |
| Perfected | The feeling of the original, perfected: their handwriting retraced so it's clear and easy to read, with misspellings corrected. Their abbreviations and shorthand stay. Want their spelling kept exactly? Just tell us. | from $24 / side, by condition |
| Printed to handwritten | A typed or printed family recipe written out by hand on a recipe card, aged or clean white. Every word is copied as printed. Available for your family's own recipes, or ones published before 1929. The handwriting is a recreation, so the printed original is always included. | $15 to $29 by length |
Perfected is priced by how much work each recipe needs:
- Light, $24: readable writing; mostly cleaning creases, stains and shadows
- Moderate, $29: faded or scrawled writing; most lines retraced
- Heavy, $39 and up: very faint or missing writing, torn pieces, or a dense full page
We confirm the price for each recipe before we start. Each extra includes a flatbed scan, and your untouched original is always included in your collection.
Delivery
Download link included. USB drive $12.95. Return shipping for your originals is added to your final invoice if you choose shipping.
Dropping off or mailing your recipes
Drop off: bring your recipes to PhotoSynthesis on Main Street in Ames during shop hours, with your order confirmation or just your name.
Mail in: put your recipes flat in an envelope or zip-top bag, sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard. Include a printed copy of your order confirmation, or a note with your name, phone and order number. Ship with tracking and insurance; these are irreplaceable.
Mark any large pages you want kept whole with a sticky note that says KEEP WHOLE, and put a sticky note on any recipe you want restored, traced, perfected or handwritten.
Care of your originals
We handle your originals with care and return them in the order we received them: in person at our Ames shop, or by trackable shipping if you're not local. We aren't responsible for items lost or damaged in the mail or by the carrier, in either direction, so please use tracking and insurance when sending your recipes to us. Very old or fragile pages can be damaged by normal handling and scanning. If anything happens while your recipes are in our care, our liability is limited to the cost of your order.