The Birth Certificate: An American History

Absorbing...An accessible, lively study of how a now-standard record came about."-Kirkus Reviews

This impeccable and captivating work of historical scholarship will appeal to any historian of the postbellum United States, but particularly to social historians, intellectual historians, and historians of science and technology.... In The Birth Certificate, Pearson brilliantly weaves together a variety of archival sources to elucidate the intersection between lived experience, state bureaucracy, and systems of epistemic authority."-Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Richly researched, beautifully written.... [A] crucial historical analysis of the vital bureaucratic document that establishes American identity." -American Journal of Legal History

A crucial contribution to the study of age as a category of analysis.... Pearson's work will be thought provoking for scholars and students alike."-Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth