The signed parchment version of the United States Declaration of Independence is called the engrossed copy.
“Engrossed” means carefully written out in a formal hand. The copy was prepared after Congress adopted the declaration’s text and was used for the signatures associated with the document now displayed at the National Archives.
The engrossed copy differs from the first printed Dunlap broadsides. The Dunlap sheets were produced quickly for public distribution and showed only the printed names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson. The parchment copy contains the familiar handwritten signatures of the delegates.
Clerk Timothy Matlack is generally credited with writing the engrossed document, although historical details about its preparation are not completely certain. The document was moved to the National Archives in 1952 after earlier custody by the State Department and the Library of Congress.