How can we find Certificates that are typed?

James Paul Thomas

How can we find Certificates that are typed? I'm not very good at reading cursive and it would be very helpful to know whether ao not something is handwritten or typed. I feel that many other users may also have the same issue. Thank you so much.

MarvinG

Thank you for adding your questions about having readable documents to use. We are not sure what you need readable documents for, it is for indexing or for your own family? Please respond by leaving a comment below.

MNuttall

James,

This information from Wikipedia about birth certificates might be interesting for you to review:

"The documentation of births is a practice widely held throughout human civilization. The original purpose of vital statistics was for tax purposes and for the determination of available military manpower. In England, births were initially registered with churches, who maintained registers of births. This practice continued into the 19th century. The compulsory registration of births with the United Kingdom government is a practice that originated at least as far back as 1853. The entire United States did not get a standardized system until 1902.

"Most countries have statutes and laws that regulate the registration of births. In all countries, it is the responsibility of the mother's physician, midwife, hospital administrator, or the parent(s) of the child to see that the birth is properly registered with the appropriate government agency.

"The actual record of birth is stored with a government agency. That agency will issue certified copies or representations of the original birth record upon request, which can be used to apply for government benefits, such as passports. The certification is signed and/or sealed by the registrar or other custodian of birth records, who is commissioned by the government."

Generally speaking -- whether the certificates are typed or handwritten depends upon the locality, government jurisdiction, time period, etc. Many governmental jurisdictions have created printed forms to fill out and those completing the forms would most likely do so by hand using pen and ink. Cursive handwriting may be somewhat of a lost art these days -- but being able to read handwriting is vital to family historians and genealogists. And, there are many articles in our Research Wiki that deal with reading the handwriting of different languages.

Best wishes and good luck to you as you work to preserve the information regarding your ancestors.