The National Archives displays the engrossed Declaration of Independence central to the America250 commemoration.
The engrossed declaration is the carefully handwritten parchment copy associated with the delegates’ signatures. It is displayed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., alongside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Together, these documents form the institution’s best-known founding-document collection.
The National Archives copy is not the same as every early version of the declaration. Thomas Jefferson’s draft papers are held by the Library of Congress, while printed Dunlap broadsides are preserved in several institutions. The National Archives’ parchment is the familiar document with the large signatures, including John Hancock’s.
The document’s preservation and public display give the 2026 anniversary a direct physical connection to 1776. America250 celebrates the declaration’s adoption, while the National Archives helps visitors see the actual parchment that carries the names of the delegates who endorsed the revolutionary statement.