Posted on by Sterling Dudley
Internet Archive Blogs, Updates from the Internet Archive
Celebrate the public domain with the Internet Archive in the following ways:
- Register for our Public Domain Day celebrations on January 21 – both virtual and in-person.
- Submit a short film to our Public Domain Film Remix contest. Deadline January 7, 2026 @11:59 PM Pacific.
- Explore the works that have entered the public domain in 2026, below.
On January 1, 2026, we celebrate published works from 1930 and published sound recordings from 1925 entering the public domain! Their arrival marks another chapter in our shared cultural heritage: the freedom to breathe new life into overlooked works, remix enduring classics, and circulate the oddities we discover in thrift stores, family attics, and forgotten corners of the internet.
For the first time since the 1970s, works from a new decade have entered the public domain after their long copyright term. This milestone builds on the momentum that began when the public domain reopened in 2019. The works of 1930 reflect a world grappling with enormous change: the early years of the Great Depression, anxieties about banks and tariffs (sound familiar?), and a cultural landscape still humming with the last heartbeats of the 1920s.
The Jazz Age and flapper style persisted through Nancy Drew’s illustrations and Betty Boop’s design; Buster Keaton’s first talkie signaled the twilight of the silent era; and the Gershwins continued to shake-up musical culture with “I Got Rhythm” and “Embraceable You”. The Interwar period left its mark, too—the first filmed adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front won Best Picture. Audiences sought escapism in the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers, in 19 new Disney cartoons, and in the gender-bending glamour of the pre-Hays Code film Morocco.
Culture was everywhere—and now, it belongs to everyone.
Musical Compositions
1930 saw the introduction of many standards into the Great American Songbook including the wistful “Dream A Little Dream of Me”, “Georgia on My Mind”, and “It Happened in Monterey”. The latter of those songs being a cultural curiosity as the spelling reflects the California city while the song is about the Mexican city. Hoagy Charmichael’s loving refrain for the state of Georgia with Georgia on My Mind would become the state’s official song in 1979.
Even inspiration for later 20th Century works bubbled up with “Beyond the Blue Horizon” which would serve as inspiration for the original Star Trek theme. At the Internet Archive the song reminds us of the blinking blue lights that help to power the 1 Trillion webpages saved.
Check out this list of more musical compositions from the year.
- On the Sunny Side of the Street lyrics by Dorothy Fields, music by Jimmy McHugh
- Just A Gigolo (first English translation), original German lyrics by Julius Brammer, English translation by Irving Caesar, music by Leonello Casucci
- You’re Driving Me Crazy! What Did I Do?, lyrics and music by Walter Donaldson
- Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight lyrics by Al Sherman, music by Al Lewis
- Body and Soul lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, music by John W. Green
- I’ve Got a Crush on You; But Not for Me, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin
Literature
If we thought that detectives had a field day in 1929 then we just hadn’t seen what 1930 had to offer yet. Miss Marple, Nancy Drew, Harriet Vane, and Sam Spade all featured in iconic works of the year respectively: The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, The Secret of the Old Clock, Strong Poison, and the published novel edition of The Maltese Falcon. Nancy Drew appeared in four different stories this year giving readers and creatives plenty of stories and mysteries to dig into. But be careful and make sure you’re reading the original editions from 1930 and not the rewrites from the late 1950s. Luckily the Archive has the 1930 editions ready for you here in our collections!
While detective fiction dominated we also got bold works from other authors including As I Lay Dyingby William Faulkner which blends multiple perspectives and bold narrative experimentation to chronicle a family’s turbulent journey to honor their mother’s final request. Groundwork was also laid for another Best Picture winner with Edna Farber’s Cimarron. Children had works to entertain themselves with Dick and Jane’s introduction in Elson Basic Readers and a 1930 retelling of the folktale, The Little Engine That Could.
Dive into Archive’s literary collection to unearth more classics from 1930.
Film
A favorite film of this author is the King of Jazz, astunning Technicolor musical revue featuring Paul Whiteman, Bing Crosby, and elaborate song and dance numbers.
It wasn’t the only musical of the year as the Marx Brothers adapted their stage show Animal Crackersto the big screen in a film of the same name. Their comedic antics would absurdly riff on the culture of the time with Groucho directly parodying a monologue from Eugene O’Neill’s 1928 play, Strange Interlude.
While past the heyday of his filmic output, Buster Keaton was still on the scene with his first talkie, Free and Easy, entering the public domain this year. If you’ve never heard his voice before then it might surprise you! Another iconic comedy is Soup to Nuts, a vehicle for Rube Goldberg to share crazy contraptions on screen. It was also the debut of actors that would form The Three Stooges group a few years later.
In another reminder of how copyright expires on a yearly basis we’re talking about All Quiet on the Western Front for the third year in a row, but this time as the adaptation that won the 3rd Academy Award for Best Picture. The film is a sobering reminder and depiction of the horrors of war, and showcased how audiences in 1930 were still reeling from the first World War. It is also a very engaging and well rounded film that is still great cinema nearly 100 years later.
Even more icons made headway in 1930 with Alfred Hitchcock’s Murder!, John Wayne’s first leading role in The Big Trail, and Greta Garbo’s moving performance in Anna Christie.
Check out more films from the year here:
- Hell’s Angels (dir. Howard Hughes & James Whale)
- Holiday (the first adaptation of the Philip Barry play)
- Monte Carlo (An early Lubitsch)
- The Divorcee (Norma Shearer’s Academy Award winning performance)
- The Unholy Three (Lon Chaney’s final film and only talkie)
Our film remix contest is ongoing until January 7, 2026, so please upload your submissions! Read more here.
Comics and Cartoons
Only a year removed from the 1920s, culture didn’t change overnight. Debuting on September 8, 1930, the Blondie comic strip by Chic Young was steeped in flapper style. Originally named Blondie Boopadoop, she drew on the singing persona of Helen Kane—who also inspired aspects of Betty Boop. For more on Betty Boop, read Jennifer Jenkins’ write-up at Duke Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain.
Mickey Mouse expanded from the screen to the page with 303 daily comic strips, sending him on western adventures, robber-chasing escapades, and more.
In 2026, we now have another 19 Disney shorts (9 Mickey, 10 Silly Symphonies) to help fill out this creative world. The Silly Symphonies rounded out their celebration of the seasons by following up 1929’s Springtime with Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
Meanwhile, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit—Mickey’s older brother—continued his prolific output even after Disney lost the rights to him in 1928. Under Walter Lantz, Oswald starred in 24 shorts this year, nearly 2.5 times Mickey’s total. Two of these, My Pal Paul and Africa, cross-promoted the film King of Jazz, proving that cinematic tie-ins have long been part of studio strategy.
Recap
The arrival of these works into the public domain is a reminder of our shared cultural heritage—of the stories, sounds, and images that shaped earlier generations and now become fair game for creative reuse. Many of these works have already been reimagined under copyright: Nancy Drew’s rewrites, the many adaptations of All Quiet on the Western Front, Mickey Mouse’s leap into comics, and more.
Now, in 2026, these works pass into a space where everyone can study them, remix them, preserve them, and carry them forward.
The public domain belongs to all of us. Let’s explore it together.
Additional resources
- Learn more about what’s moving into the public domain in 2026 from Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle of Duke Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain.
- Public Domain Review highlights the materials moving into the public domain in 2026.
- Read the recaps from John Mark Ockerbloom’s Everybody’s Libraries of works that have joined the public domain.
- Check out the Public Domain Game Jam from Techdirt.
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Continue/Read Original Article Here: Welcome to the Public Domain in 2026 | Internet Archive Blogs
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