Heirloom Read and transcribe your old handwritten family letters.
Photograph a handwritten letter. Heirloom gives you a faithful transcription, the same letter in plain modern wording and, when it was written in another language, an English translation — all beside the original page.
Prepaid page credits: one credit reads one page. You see the exact number before you pay.
Real letter · Actual Heirloom reading
A family letter from 1863, made readable.
Abraham Lincoln wrote to his wife about money, family and a missing goat. We ran the first page through Heirloom. This is an excerpt from that reading, not a recreated letter.
As generated by Heirloom · opening paragraph only
Executive Mansion, Washington, August 8, 1863. My dear Wife. All as well as usual, and no particular trouble any way. I put the money into the Treasury at five per cent, with the privilege of withdrawing it any time upon thirty day's notice. I suppose you are glad to learn this. Tell dear Tad, poor "Nanny Goat" is lost; and Mrs Cuthbert & I are in distress about it.
Public-domain scan. Credit: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Abraham Lincoln Papers. View the original item and rights statement. Heirloom reading generated October 11, 2026.
How a reading works
Upload the pages
Phone photos or a PDF scan of one letter. Put the pages in reading order and remove any that don’t belong.
See the cost, then pay
One credit per page you choose to read. Buy a credit pack through Stripe if you need more.
Read beside the original
The transcription, modern wording and any translation sit next to the page so you can check every line.
Correct and keep
Fix a name or a date, keep the letter in your private library, print it or download the text.
How page credits work
- One credit reads one page — one side of paper you choose to read.
- Prepaid. Buy a credit pack before your first reading. There is no subscription.
- Exact cost first. After you upload, the review step shows how many credits the letter needs.
- Up to five pages per reading. Longer letters can be read in parts.
Credit packs
Credit-pack prices load here when the reader connects. The exact price is confirmed before you pay.
There is no subscription. You only pay when you choose a pack and continue to Stripe checkout.
If a page can’t be read
Faded, torn or very dense pages sometimes defeat the reader. When a reading fails, the credits held for it are released back to your balance and you can try clearer photos.
If Heirloom can’t confirm whether a reading finished, its credits stay on hold until that is resolved. It is never sent twice or charged twice.
Your letters stay yours
Pages and readings are stored encrypted in a private library that only your account can open. You can delete a letter, or your whole account, whenever you choose.
Readings come from an AI model and can contain mistakes, especially with names and dates. That is why the original is always shown beside the text, and why every line can be corrected.
Guides for reading old letters
Looking for a tool? Convert cursive handwriting to text with Heirloom.
- How to read an old letterCan't make out grandma's handwriting? A six-step method with a worked example for reading old letters, plus how to check names, dates and unclear words.
- Transcribing from photosPhotograph or scan handwritten letters so they can be transcribed well: lighting, page order, file types, transcription conventions and keeping the result.
- Old cursive letterformsCan't read old cursive? Compare tricky letters like the long s, decode abbreviations such as Wm. and recd, and understand dates like inst. and ult. Illustrated, with a real 1863 letter.
- Translating old lettersWhy old letters in German, French, Polish or other languages should be transcribed before they are translated, what makes old scripts hard and how to check a translation.
- Dating an old letterNo date on a letter? Narrow the year with the postmark, the weekday, holidays and events in the text, and old calendar styles, then record how confident you are.
- Kurrent and SütterlinWhat Kurrent and Sütterlin are, why they are hard to read, the greeting and date formulas to look for first, and how to check names and places in a German family letter.
Start with one letter.
Upload it, check the pages and see exactly what the reading costs before you buy anything.
Read your letter