Public Domain: Resources for Public Domain Materials

This search of Google Books will only yield results of documents published prior to 1927. You can also search all of Google Books, but make sure you check the copyright status of any materials you find.

Project Gutenberg offers over 56,000 free eBooks: Choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online. You will find the world's great literature here, especially older works for which copyright has expired.

This site converts a selection of the plain text public domain books from Project Gutenberg into HTML.

HathiTrust Digital Library is a digital preservation repository and highly functional access platform. It provides long-term preservation and access services for public domain and in copyright content from a variety of sources. You can locate items in the public domain by limiting your search to "full view only" or year of publication.

The Internet Archive offers over 15,000,000 freely downloadable books and texts free to read, download, and print. (Some texts have restrictions on bulk re-use and commercial use, so check any restrictions set for the collection or by the sponsor of a book.)

This page is intended as a helpful guide to public-domain resources, but as with all publicly-editable guides, make sure to verify that materials are in the public domain before you use them.

GOVInfo is a service of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO) and provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.

Europeana Collections provides access to over 50 million digitized items – books, music, artworks and more – with sophisticated search and filter tools to help you find what you’re looking for. (Make sure to select Public Domain Marked under "CAN I USE IT?")

Access online collections: view maps & photographs; read letters, diaries & newspapers; hear personal accounts of events; listen to sound recordings & watch historic films. (The introductory page for each collection typically contains a link to copyright information; double check that the material you use is in the public domain.)

Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons CC0, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.

The Flickr Commons allows cultural institutions to share photographs that they have reasonably concluded have "no known copyright restrictions" and are in the public domain or can be used as though they are in the public domain. (As always, you should confirm that materials have no copyright restrictions.)

Morguefile is a free photo archive, and all photos are free for to download and re-use in your work, be it commercial or not.

A growing public domain digital photography collection, free of copyright and licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. All images are free to download for personal, educational, and commercial use, without restriction.