How to Preserve Old Recipe Cards Before They Fade

What is actually destroying them

Paper deterioration is rarely one dramatic event. It is the accumulation of several slow processes, most of which are avoidable once you know what they are.

• Light, especially daylight and ultraviolet. It is the main cause of ink fading, and the damage is cumulative and irreversible — a card left on a windowsill is spending its remaining legibility.
• Acid, both in the card itself and in whatever it is stored in. Mid-century index cards and most envelopes are acidic, and acid migrates from one sheet to whatever it touches.
• Humidity swings. Repeated expansion and contraction is harder on paper than a steady damp, and above roughly 65% relative humidity, mould becomes a live risk.
• Kitchen grease and airborne cooking oils, which soak in, darken with age and attract further soiling.
• Handling oils from skin, which are mildly acidic and transfer with every touch.
• Adhesive tape, which is the single most common irreversible injury to a family document.

Handling

• Clean, dry hands are correct for paper. Cotton gloves are not recommended — they reduce grip and dexterity, and dropped or creased cards are a bigger risk than skin oils.
• Support the whole card rather than lifting from one corner. Old paper tears along the line of its own weight.
• Never force a curled card flat. Curl relaxes gradually in stable humidity under light, even weight; forcing it cracks the fibres and can split the ink layer.
• Work on a clean, dry surface away from food, drink and pens.

Storage

• Use acid-free and lignin-free enclosures — archival sleeves, folders or boxes. This is the single highest-value change most people can make.
• Buffered (alkaline-reserve) enclosures suit most recipe cards. The exception worth knowing: buffering is not recommended for iron-gall ink, so if a card is written in a brown-black ink that appears to be eating into the paper, use unbuffered storage and get advice.
• Store flat rather than upright where possible, and do not cram. Compression damages edges; too loose lets cards slump and curl.
• Keep them dark, and keep temperature and humidity as stable as you can. An interior cupboard in a living space is usually the best available spot in a normal house.
• Do not store them in the kitchen, the attic, the garage or the basement. Those are the four worst rooms in the building for paper, and the kitchen is where recipe cards naturally end up.

What not to do, and why

1. Never laminate

   Lamination is irreversible, seals in the acid already present, and applies heat and adhesive to the original. It is widely regarded as one of the most destructive things you can do to a document, and it cannot be undone without damage.

2. Never use sticky tape

   Pressure-sensitive tape yellows, its adhesive migrates into the paper, and removing it later frequently takes the surface — and the ink — with it. A torn card is better stored supported in a sleeve than taped.

3. Never trim to fit

   Cutting a card to fit a box or a frame destroys original material permanently, including anything written at the edges.

4. Never write on the original

   Not even to add a helpful date. Ballpoint and marker are effectively permanent; record notes separately, keyed to a photograph.

5. Do not glue cards into a scrapbook

   Most craft adhesives are acidic and irreversible. Use photo corners or sleeves if you want them in an album.

A card that is already damaged

The general rule for anything you are not sure about: photograph it now, stabilise it, and stop. Most irreversible damage to family documents happens during well-intentioned repair rather than during neglect.

• Grease staining: nothing safe to do at home. Photograph it, store it flat and separately so it does not transfer, and leave it.
• Water damage or damp: air-dry flat away from direct heat, interleaved with plain absorbent paper. If it is actively wet and there are many cards, freezing them buys time to work through them slowly.
• Tears: support rather than repair. Place the card in a sleeve so the tear is held flat. Do not tape it, and do not glue it.
• Visible mould: isolate the card from the rest of the collection immediately, and do not brush or wipe it. Mould is a health matter as well as a conservation one — this is a stop-and-ask situation.
• Anything you would be devastated to lose: consult a paper conservator before doing anything. A single consultation costs far less than most people expect.

Digitizing as insurance

Everything above slows deterioration down. None of it stops it. A photograph is the only step that makes the content survive the object outright, and it is the one thing worth doing today even if you change nothing else.

Our guide to digitizing handwritten recipes covers how to photograph and transcribe a collection properly, including what to do with words you cannot read. Tradish can shorten the transcription; it does not change any of the physical advice on this page.