Public Domain Day is the day at the beginning of every year when copyrights expire and works fall into the public domain after being protected for a number of calendar years after an author death, or, in the case of certain materials in the U.S., after publication and registration.
Public Domain Day has grown organically as a celebration with events by various countries and organizations tracked online by Communia. Notable additions to the public domain this year include the earliest depictions of Betty Boop, the sheet music for “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying.
In our eighth year celebrating Public Domain Day through digitization, we digitized 27 titles after a public vote on works in USF Libraries’ collections, including:
Children’s Literature
- Young folks’ fairy tales: the sterling fairy tales compiled entirely from new and old oriental stories, fully illustrated. by Whitman Pub
- The sleeping beauty and other fairy tales from the old French, by Quiller-Couch, Arthur
- A fairy garland, being fairy tales from the Old French, by C Scribner’s sons
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [shorthand] by Carroll, Lewis
- Hello everybody! By Disney, Walt
- Alice in Wonderland. by Carroll, Lewis
Florida Studies
- Florida poets, 1930 by International writer’s league
- History of and guide to that beautiful tropical section in and around Tampa in the heart of America’s playground by Greeters of America
- The St. Augustine historical society’s oldest house hoax. by Reynolds, Charles B.
- Inspiration Pictures, Inc. presents Henry King’s Hell harbor, with Lupe Velez, Jean Hersholt, John Holland: [program souvenir]. by Longacre Press
Florida Environmental and Natural History
- The sponge industry of Tarpon Springs, Florida by Macrenaris, E. P.
- The Mountain Lake Sanctuary and the Singing Tower: near Lake Wales, Fla. by Hartman Card Co
- Florida – the fountain of youth. by La Gorce, John Oliver
- The new citrus era. by WJ Howey Co
- The marvels and oddities of sunlight by Fielding, William J.
Sheet Music
- Georgia on my mind by Carmichael, Hoagy
- Over the sunshine city: a reminiscence by Lawrence, Frank W.
- Florida: where the lazy Suwannee flows by Tyner, C. E.
- The sunshine city by Cashen-Lippert, Ruth.
- Goofus: fox trot song by King, Wayne
Rare Books
- Magic! : the most amazing short-cuts in cooking you ever heard of. by Borden
- Making men happy with jams and jellies by Palmer, Elizabeth.
- An encyclopedia of sex by Haldeman-Julius, E.
- Hartmann’s international directory of psychic science and spiritualism. by The Occult Press
- A rational sex code by Haldeman-Julius, E.
Learn more about the public domain and our digitization celebrations through our past Digital Dialogs posts.