Open Educational Resources

Where can I find public domain works?

The sites below will guide you to a cultural wealth of public domain books, images, illustrations, audio, and films where the copyright term has expired or the creator has not renewed the license. Remember, public domain works are free and available for unrestricted use. Enjoy and be creative!

• Smithsonian Institution Public Domain Images on flickr - a sample of the more than 13 million images in some seven hundred collections in our museums, archives, and research centers
• Public Domain Images from the New York Time on Wikimedia Commons  - images published prior to January 1, 1923, no watermark, and potential Encyclopedic use 
• Project Gutenberg, a collection of public domain electronic books - offers over 59,000 free eBooks
• Librivox, public domain audio books - a library of audiobooks
• Prelinger Archives - a vast collection of over 60,000 "ephemeral" (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films

Except for the PPT, this guide is adapted from the work of Lauren B. Collister at the University of PIttsburgh, Portland Community College, Virginia Tech, and UMass Amherst Libraries.

This content in this guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.