If you cannot establish the current status of the company that issued your stock certificate, you can contact the Corporations Division of the company's state of incorporation for further research. All public companies are required to incorporate their business in one of the fifty states of the U.S., through a registration. The state of incorporation may not be the state where the company is located. Many companies across the country incorporate their business in Delaware for tax purposes.
The Corporation Division of many states offer an online database to search for business entities by name, both active and inactive. Most of these database are free to access online, but some may require a small fee of a few dollars in order to access. For states that do not offer an online database, you will have to contact the Corporations Division by phone or mail. State databases often provide information back for only for a few decades. For older stock certificates, you may have to contact the Corporations Division by phone or email. If your search returns no results, it is a good idea to contact the state's corporations division by phone or email for further inquiry.