John Dunlap printed about 200 official broadside copies of the Declaration commemorated by America250.
Dunlap was a Philadelphia printer commissioned to produce copies soon after Congress adopted the Declaration on July 4, 1776. These large single-sheet printings are known as the Dunlap broadsides.
The copies were distributed to colonial governments, military leaders, and other recipients. One was sent to George Washington, whose troops were in the New York area, with instructions that the document be read aloud to them.
Only 26 Dunlap broadsides are known to survive today. Their survival makes them exceptionally important documentary evidence, even though the later engrossed parchment copy is the version most people recognize from photographs.