Thanks for your reply.
I don’t think this is from a DB because of the edge curl. A DB would likely print from a layout - clean, flat. This looks like a scan of a book page.
>>This looks like a scan of a book page.<<
I think that is the effect the background is going for on purpose. Kinda like how when I put images of documents in Word I like to give them the soft shadow edge to make them look like a sheet of paper in the document.
I don’t think it is relevant.
What I am suggesting is that they have scanned their paper records into image files and those image files are stored in a database. When they need to produce an official document, they assemble it from previously archived electronic images.
I would be somewhat surprised if the actual paper copy that was created in 1961 even exists today, only it's digital image remains. I don't know that for certain, but that is often how old records are archived.
The only way a DB would be applicable here would be as quick way to call up previously scanned images.
In contrast, the CoLB is indeed just a database printout that has been certified to be correct. At some point, the DoH computerized their records. They went through all their paper and entered key facts from each document into a database. Now, when somebody asks for their birth certificate, they just key the person's info into a computer application which looks up the database record. If the data looks right, they click a button, and the program prints the key facts out on safety paper. They take the paper off the printer, stamp it with Dr. Onaka's signature stamp, emboss it with the state seal, and send it out to the citizen and cash his check. No more dusty files or photocopy hassles (except for the special cases, like this one).