Happy New Year! January 1, 2023 marks the date that items published in the year 1927 enter the public domain in the United States. Items in the public domain are free from copyright protections and can be legally shared without needing to ask permission or pay fees. January 1st of any given year is the date that items typically enter into the public domain. This happens 70 years after the death of the author, 95 years from the date of publication, or 120 years from the date of creation – typically whichever comes first, but there are lots of exceptions (see this Cornell chart for more details).
In celebration of the release of copyrighted works into the public domain, I wanted to share a not-at-all-comprehensive list of items that will be in the public domain as of January 1st. If you are a faculty member, take a look at the list and see if any of this content would be useful in the courses you teach. Public domain means access to content should be free or relatively cheap (great news for your students), and fair game for remixing and reusing (great news for you). I’ve provided links to UT owned copies where possible to allow users to access materials. Please keep in mind that those copies may be later editions, translations, recordings, or otherwise modified in ways that still may be protected by copyright.
Art – location of original as of December 2022 is shared when known.
- Adams, Ansel: Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras
- Blashfield, Edwin: Spring Scattering Stars (in private collection)
- Carl-Nielsen, Anne Marie: Rytterstatuen af Christian IX (The Equestrian statue of King Christian IX) (Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen)
- Dalí, Salvador: Apparatus and Hand (Salvador Dalí Museum)
- Douglas, Aaron: Noah’s Ark
- Ernst, Max: Forest and Dove (Tate Gallery), The Wood (National Museum of Wales)
- Hopper, Edward: Automat (Des Moines Art Center)
- Kandinsky, Vassily: Soft Hard
- de Lempicka, Tamara: La Tunique Rose
- Longstaff, Will: Menin Gate at Midnight (Australian War Memorial)
- Magritte, René: The Menaced Assassin (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
- O’Keeffe, Georgia: Black Abstraction (The Met)
- Sciortino, Antonio: Great Siege Monument (Valletta, Malta)
- Sheeler, Charles: Criss-Crossed Conveyors, River Rouge Plant, Ford Motor Company
- Spencer, Stanley: The Resurrection, Cookham (Tate Gallery)
- Van Der Zee, James: Baptism Celebration
- Whistler, Rex: The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats (Tate Gallery)
Film
- 7th Heaven: Dir. Frank Borzage
- Antoinette Sabrier: Dir. Germaine Dulac
- Третья Мещанская (Bed and Sofa): Dir. Abram Room
- The Cat and the Canary: Dir. Paul Leni
- Chicago: Dir. Frank Urson
- The Dove: Dir. Roland West
- Éducation de Prince (Education of a Prince): Dir. Henri Diamant-Berger
- Конец Санкт-Петербурга (The End of St. Petersburg): Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin
- Fantasia ‘e surdate (Soldier’s Fantasy): Dir. Elvira Notari
- Fashions for Women: Dir. Dorothy Arzner (lost film)
- The Filipino Woman: Dir. José Nepomuceno
- The Gaucho: Dir. F. Richard Jones
- It: Dir. Clarence Badger and Josef von Sternberg (written by Elinor Glyn)
- The Jazz Singer: Dir. Alan Crosland
- The Kid Brother: Dir. Ted Wilde and J.A. Howe
- The King of Kings: Dir. Cecil B. DeMille (written by Jeanie MacPherson)
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog: Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
- Long Pants: Dir. Frank Capra
- Love: Dir. Edmund Goulding
- Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney (The Love of Jeanne Ney): Dir. G.W. Pabst
- Metropolis: Dir. Fritz Lang (screenplay Thea von Harbou)
- The Millionaire: Dir. Oscar Micheaux
- My Best Girl: Dir. Sam Taylor (produced by Mary Pickford)
- Napoléon: Dir. Abel Gance
- The Patent Leather Kid: Dir. Alfred Santell
- Putting Pants on Philip: Dir. Clyde Bruckman
- Quality Street: Dir. Sidney Franklin
- The Ring: Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
- 西廂記 (Romance of the Western Chamber): Dir. Hou Yao
- Sensation Seekers: Dir. Lois Weber
- Sorrell and Son: Dir. Herbert Brennon (screenplay by Elizabeth Meehan)
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans: Dir. F.W. Murnau
- The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg: Dir. Ernst Lubitsch
- Underworld: Dir. Josef von Sternberg
- The Unknown: Dir. Tod Browning
- When a Man Loves: Dir. Alan Crosland
- Wings: Dir. William A. Wellman (winner of the 1st Academy Award for Best Picture)
Literature – This list is based on first publication. Subsequent editions or translations are likely not in the public domain
- Adinegoro, Djamaluddin: Darah Muda (original Indonesian edition)
- Cather, Willa: Death Comes for the Archbishop
- Cullen, Countee (ed): Caroling Dusk (anthology of black poets)
- de Angulo, Jaime: The Lariat
- de la Roche, Mazo: Jalna
- Dixon, Franklin W.: The Tower Treasure
- Faulkner, William: Mosquitoes
- Freud, Sigmund: Die Zukunft einer Illusion (The Future of an Illusion) (original German edition)
- Heidegger, Martin: Sein und Zeit (Being and Time) (original German edition)
- Hemingway, Ernest: Men Without Women
- Hesse, Hermann: Steppenwolf (original German edition)
- Iqbal, Allama: زبور عجم (Persian Psalms) (original Persian edition)
- Johnson, Georgia Douglas: Plumes
- Johnson, James Weldon: God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse
- Joyce, James: Pomes Penyeachra
- Kafka, Franz: Amerika (original German edition)
- Kwee Tek Hoay: Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang (The Rose Of Cikenbang) (original Malay edition)
- Laxness, Halldór Kiljan: Vefarinn mikli frá Kasmír (The Great Weaver From Kashmir) (original Icelandic edition)
- Lehmann, Rosamond: Dusty Answer
- Lewis, Sinclair: Elmer Gantry
- Mauriac, François: Thérèse Desqueyroux (original French edition)
- Moberg, Vilhelm: Raskens (original Swedish edition)
- Mourning Dove: Cogewea
- Olesha, Yury: Зависть (Envy) (original Russian edition)
- Sayers, Dorothy: Unnatural Death
- Sinclair, Upton: Oil!
- Traven, B.: Der Schatz der Sierra Madre (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) (original German edition)
- Vigil, Constancio C.: Botón Tolón (original Spanish edition)
- Wilder, Thornton: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
- Williamson, Henry: Tarka the Otter (Hawthornden Prize)
- Wodehouse, P.G.: The Small Bachelor
- Woolf, Virginia: To the Lighthouse
- Young, Francis Brett: Portrait of Clare (James Tait Black Memorial Prize)
Music – only the musical composition, not specific recordings
- “Adios, Muchachos” by Julio César Sanders
- “Ain’t She Sweet” music by Milton Ager with lyrics by Jack Yellen
- “Among My Souvenirs” music by Horatio Nicholls with lyrics by Edgar Leslie
- An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands by Carl Nielsen
- “At Sundown (When Love is Calling me Home)” by Walter Donaldson
- “The Best Things in Life are Free” music by Ray Henderson with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown
- “Black and Tan Fantasy” by Duke Ellington and Bubber Miley
- “Bless This House” music by May Brahe with lyrics by Helen Taylor
- “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin
- By the Blue Hawaiian Waters by Albert Ketèlbey
- “Creole Love Call” by Duke Ellington
- Das Wunder der Heliane (The Miracle of Heliane) by Erich Wolfgang Korngold with libretto by Hans Müller-Einigen
- “Funny Face” (song and musical) music by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
- “Let’s Kiss and Make Up” music by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
- “My One and Only” music by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
- “S Wonderful” music by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin
- Good News (musical) music by Ray Henderson with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown
- “The Best Things in Life are Free” music by Ray Henderson with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown
- “Ice Cream (I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream)” by Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert A. King
- “Let a Smile be Your Umbrella” music by Sammy Fain with lyrics by Irving Kahal and Francis Wheeler
- “Lindbergh (The Eagle of the U.S.A.)” by Howard Johnson and Al Sherman
- “The Lonesome Road” music by Nathaniel Shilkret with lyrics by Gene Austin
- “Me and My Shadow” music by Dave Dreyer with lyrics by Billy Rose
- “Mississippi Mud” by Harry Barris
- “My Blue Heaven” music by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by George A. Whiting
- Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky with libretto by Jean Cocteau
- “Side by Side” by Harry M. Woods
- String Quartet No. 3 by Arnold Schoenberg
- Švanda dudák (Schwanda the Bagpiper) by Jaromír Weinberger with libretto by Miloš Kareš
- Symphony No. 1 by Roger Sessions
- Symphony No. 2 in B major by Dmitri Shostakovich
- “Thou Swell” music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Disclaimer: I tried to find a couple sources for each item listed, but please use this list with care and do your own research on publication dates.
Check out the Center for the Study of the Public Domain for even more works entering the public domain this month, and a wealth of information about the benefits of the public domain.
