Timothy Matlack prepared the engrossed handwritten parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence for America250’s historic document.
An engrossed document is a carefully handwritten final copy prepared for official use. After Congress adopted the declaration, it ordered a formal parchment version that could be signed and preserved. Matlack, a Pennsylvania revolutionary and congressional clerk, is generally credited with producing the elegant engrossed manuscript.
The copy is written in a clear, formal hand with a large heading and carefully arranged text. It is the version most people picture when they think of the Declaration, rather than the earlier printed broadsides or Jefferson’s working drafts.
Matlack’s manuscript was signed primarily on August 2, 1776, although the chronology of individual signatures remains complex. The document is now preserved at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where it is displayed with other foundational records. Its physical form helped turn a political resolution into a lasting national artifact.