Public Domain Day 2026 subjectId: 690696

On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 will enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925. Hundreds of thousands of new materials, from books, to music, to film, to selected archival material, and other creative works, are now free to use and share without restriction. Sample books from 1930 include Franz Kafka's "The Castle", Langston Hughes "Not Without Laughter", William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" and Margaret Ayer Barnes "Years of Grace". Please see Public Domain Day In Literature 2026 for more public domain book examples from 1930.

Sample films that will enter the public domain include Animal Crackers, ft. The Marx Brothers, All Quiet on the Western Front, Morrocco, ft. Marlene Dietrich as well as sound recording from 1925 by Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Marian Anderson. 

Find more information on Public Domain Day through the resources below!

• The Public Domain Review
• Center for the Study of the Public Domain (Duke)
• Works entering the public domain in 2026 (Wikipedia)
• Duke Law | Public Domain Day 2026

Additional information about Public Domain can be found on the University of Miami Libraries guide for Research Visibility & Scholarly Communication - Public Domain.

UM Collections

UM Digital Collections that are in the public domain

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is an online library of more than 75,000 free eBooks.

HathiTrust

UM users have full-text access to over 6.4 million public domain works within the HathiTrust.

Standard EBooks

Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven effort to produce a collection of high quality, carefully formatted, accessible, open source, and free public domain ebooks that meet or exceed the quality of commercially produced ebooks. 

Library of Congress (Free to Use Resources)
This page features items from the Library's digital collections that are free to use and reuse. The Library believes that this content is either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.

New York Public Library (Public Domain)
The New York Public Library has information on how to find and use items in the public domain.

Internet Archive (Items in the Public Domain)
Find items available in the public domain through the Internet Archive.