Timothy Matlack was chosen to inscribe the engrossed parchment copy of the United States Declaration of Independence.
The engrossed copy is the carefully handwritten document on vellum that carries the famous signatures. Matlack, a Pennsylvania clerk with recognized penmanship, was selected in 1776 to prepare this formal version after Congress approved the Declaration.
Matlack was not the principal author of the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft, Congress edited it, and John Dunlap printed the first broadside editions. Matlack’s role was to produce the polished parchment copy used for signing.
He later served as Pennsylvania’s secretary during the Revolutionary War and eventually became a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1780. The document he inscribed is displayed in the Rotunda of the National Archives alongside other founding charters.