We have two copies of birth certificates for everyone in the family. One in the house safe and one at the closest bank branch. Our SS cards and passports are at the bank too. After Katria, I've often thought of getting official copies to some out-of-state relatives, but that's probably overkill for us. The more copies you have floating around, the more open you are to identity theft.

My bank debit/credit card has my photo on it, which sometimes gets accepted as photo ID. I don't keep a spare license, but I've thought about it. You could also look into getting just a state ID card from the DMV. Those might be more lax as far as issuing duplicates.

There are several legitimate websites where you can easily order a birth certificate from your home county. At least it was easy for us. I'm sure some people run into complications.