Timothy Matlack engrossed the parchment copy of the United States Declaration of Independence displayed at the National Archives.
“Engrossed” means carefully written out in a formal, finished hand, usually on parchment. Congress ordered the official copy on July 19, 1776, after adopting the Declaration's text. Matlack, a Pennsylvania clerk and skilled penman, produced the handwritten document that most people picture when they think of the Declaration.
Matlack did not author the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson wrote the principal draft, while Congress debated and revised the wording. John Dunlap printed the first widely distributed broadsides, and Charles Thomson served as secretary of Congress. These different roles are often mistakenly blended together. Most delegates signed the Matlack parchment on August 2, although several signatures were added later. America250's anniversary focus on the founding document makes Matlack's behind-the-scenes work an important part of the document's physical history.