{"id":18599,"date":"2026-01-08T17:09:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/woodruff\/?p=18599"},"modified":"2026-01-09T10:27:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:27:03","slug":"works-from-1930-enter-the-us-public-domain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/woodruff\/news\/works-from-1930-enter-the-us-public-domain","title":{"rendered":"Works from 1930 enter the US public domain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Betty Boop making her debut in the film Dizzy Dishes (1930).<\/p><\/div>\n

Every year, on January 1, works previously protected by copyright enter the public domain in the United States and become free for everyone to use.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 entered the public domain in the United States, along with sound recordings from 1925. Works in the public domain are free for all to copy, share, and build upon. Among this year\u2019s highlights are modernist masterpieces including William Faulkner\u2019s \u201cAs I Lay Dying\u201d and T. S. Eliot\u2019s \u201cAsh Wednesday\u201d; detective stories such as Agatha Christie\u2019s \u201cThe Murder at the Vicarage\u201d; Olaf Stapledon\u2019s science-fiction classic, \u201cLast and First Men\u201d; Sigmund Freud\u2019s seminal work \u201cCivilization and Its Discontents\u201d; and children\u2019s classics, including the first four Nancy Drew books and the popular illustrated version of \u201cThe Little Engine That Could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Films featuring Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, the Marx Brothers, and John Wayne in his first leading role are also now in the public domain, along with the musical notation and lyrics of popular songs such as \u201cI Got Rhythm,\u201d \u201cGeorgia on My Mind,\u201d and \u201cDream a Little Dream of Me.\u201d Celebrated modernist paintings by Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee are now free to reproduce, share, and reimagine. Several iconic characters first introduced in 1930 will also have new life as part of the expanding public domain, including Betty Boop, Pluto (originally named Rover), and Blondie and Dagwood.<\/p>\n

As Justice Elena Kagan explained just a few years ago in her dissent in Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts v. Goldsmith<\/a> (2023), \u201c. . . artists don\u2019t create all on their own; they cannot do what they do without borrowing from or otherwise making use of the work of others. That is the way artistry of all kinds\u2014visual, musical, literary\u2014happens (as it is the way knowledge and invention generally develop).\u201d With this new cache of iconic works from a previous era entering the public domain, creators are free to borrow from them, or to reinvent them altogether, to confront the cultural challenges of our own time.<\/p>\n

Books and plays<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\nHere are just a few of the classic books that entered the public domain in 2026, with links to copies accessible freely online or available to borrow at Emory Libraries. For those who don\u2019t have an active Emory ID card, check your local library or favorite bookseller for these titles.<\/p>\n