Everybody has one, but you may not know where your birth certificate is located. Did you put it in your safe deposit box in the bank? Is it tucked inside an old photo album? If you’ve misplaced yours and need a certified replacement birth certificate of your original document, you’re in luck because the process has never been easier.

However, it is important to know what type of birth certificate you need. There are key differences between a short-form birth certificate and a long-form certificate, as well as certain circumstances where it is beneficial for you to be in possession of one type versus the other. How do these two types match up against the other?

​A birth certificate is a crucial document to have in your possession. If you don’t have one, there are many places to obtain a birth certificate copy. Thousands of agencies can issue one, so it’s important to be careful the copy you obtain isn’t fake.

Do you know where your birth certificate is stashed away? Did you misplace it and need to get a replacement? Or has it gotten so worn you can no longer make out the information on it? When you are ordering an online birth certificate replacement, do you wonder about the history of birth certificates and how they came about?

You might be surprised to learn that the history of birth certificates in the United States is not as old as you might think. The birth certificates we have come to know today did not start to take shape until the early 1900s.