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mid-20th-century hospital souvenir birth certificate and maternity guide booklet published under the title Congratulations by Shaw Publications, Inc. (who also published My Baby Magazine).
During the 1940s through the 1960s, it was standard practice for hospitals across the US to partner with publishing companies to distribute these free, ad-supported gift booklets to new mothers right after giving birth.
The cover or introductory insert of the booklet was a stylized, ornamental certificate filled in by hospital staff with the baby's birth details (in this case, Daniel Alan Caciolo born at The Allentown Hospital on November 22, 1959) and signed by the attending physician and hospital administrator.
While signed by the hospital staff, this was created purely as a decorative souvenir for baby scrapbooks. Official legal records were registered separately with the state vital statistics office.
The rest of the magazine served as a sponsored advice booklet featuring articles from prominent medical figures of the era (such as Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher) and vintage advertisements for baby products like Gerber.
It is a classic piece of mid-century hospital ephemera!
