I've ordered death certificates by mail a few times and the time to process the requests varied between two and eight weeks. This was when the certificates were with the Dept. of Health. I would say that current delays may have something to do with the transfer of certificates to the Archives and their project to digitize the records. Another reason could be that they have been besieged with requests since the price of old certificates dropped from $13 to $1. What I know for certain is this: I emailed a request on August 11th and a reply only came this week. Additionally, you may want to review their mail and email policy, if that's how you ordered the records. It states: "Submit only one request and allow us to complete your research before submitting others." (http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/email.asp) I take that to mean one certificate at a time. "In-house patrons who search the death indexes may request up to ten records at a time; those requests must be fulfilled before additional requests can be made." "Currently, it is not possible to provide immediate service for those patrons wishing to access the death certificates. The records are not easily accessible and various preservation and security measures must be taken before full service is instituted at the Missouri State Archives for in-house visitors, online researchers, and postal mail requests. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but assure all patrons that this valuable collection will be made available as soon as possible." http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/deathFAQ.asp Dave > Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 16:35:05 +0000 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Message-Id: <10142005[email protected]comcast.net> > Subject: Ordering Xerox copies of death certs > > I ordered 4 xerox copies of death certs from the MO state offices in Jeff City, > each at a cost of $1, in the middle of August. I have yet to hear from them. > How long does it take to get a reply? > > Previously, I have ordered certified copies and recieved them quite rapidly...within > three weeks time. Obviously, the cost was much more ($10-13). > > Has anyone gotten better response time on the death cert copies? > > Sharon