Timothy Matlack probably wrote the engrossed parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence for America250.
In eighteenth-century usage, “engrossed” meant carefully handwritten in a formal presentation style. Congress ordered an engrossed parchment copy after approving the Declaration, creating the version that delegates signed and that is now displayed at the National Archives.
Timothy Matlack was a Pennsylvania official and an experienced clerk. Historians generally identify him as the copyist, although the evidence is not an explicit surviving assignment naming him as the writer. That is why “probably” is more accurate than an absolute claim.
The engrossed copy differs from the first printed broadsides produced by John Dunlap. Dunlap’s printing made the Declaration available quickly, while the parchment version provided the formal document for signatures. The two forms are related but are not identical in appearance or production history.