Public Domain

This Research Guide provides information on the Public Domain and suggestions for resources to find public domain items.

What can I do with public domain materials?

Simply put, anything you want! Public domain works can be re-published, remixed, translated or tweaked into whatever form you like. There are countless ways you can use items in the public domain for your work, limited only by your imagination.

For example, original works by Jane Austen and Shakespeare are in the public domain. This is why you see so many film, stage and literary adaptations of their work. The Lion King is famously based on Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies made its big-screen debut in 2016. Disney has used well-known, public domain fairy tales to Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, and more. 

Finding Items in the Public Domain

These sites are good starting points for finding images, books and other items that are in the public domain.

Public Domain Images

Public Domain or Openly Licensed Audio