Timothy Matlack is traditionally credited with engrossing the parchment copy of the United States Declaration of Independence.
“Engrossing” means preparing a formal document in a careful, official hand. After Congress approved the Declaration’s text, a parchment version was produced for presentation and signatures. Timothy Matlack, a clerk associated with the Continental Congress, is generally identified as the person who wrote this engrossed copy.
The parchment document is the version most people picture today: the large sheet bearing the signatures of 56 delegates. Most delegates signed on August 2, 1776, although some signed later and the precise signing chronology has been debated. The document is displayed in the National Archives’ Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom.
Matlack should not be confused with Thomas Jefferson, who drafted much of the text, or Charles Thomson, the congressional secretary who attested printed copies. The engrossed parchment is also distinct from the first printed Dunlap broadsides, which were produced immediately after adoption.