January 1st marked the day when a number of literary and other works entered the public domain. This means that anyone can use these works for free without permission. Here’s an article with all the exciting details:
‘The Great Gatsby,’ ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ And Other 1925 Works Enter The Public Domain
The books will be available via the Internet Archive, Hathi Trust, and Google Books.
The Great Gatsby is getting the most press (expect more film and book adaptations soon, I’d guess), but there are a lot of other works entering the public playground.
If you’ve ever wanted to do a gender-swapped mashup of Mrs. Dalloway and Kafka’s The Trial set to “Back Biting Woman’s Blues,” your time is now!
Here’s a selection of what’s on offer (via Hyperallergic):
Books
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
• Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
• Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time
• Franz Kafka, The Trial (in German)
• Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy
• John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer
• Alain Locke, The New Negro (collecting works from writers including W.E.B. du Bois, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Eric Walrond)
• Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
• Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys
• Aldous Huxley, Those Barren Leaves
• W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil
• Dorothy Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs
• Edith Wharton, The Writing of Fiction
• Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai
Films
• Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman
• The Merry Widow
• Stella Dallas
• Buster Keaton’s Go West
• His People
• Lovers in Quarantine
• Pretty Ladies
• The Unholy Three
Music
• Always, by Irving Berlin
• Sweet Georgia Brown, by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard & Kenneth Casey
• Works by Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues,” including “Army Camp Harmony Blues” (with Hooks Tilford) and “Shave ’Em Dry” (with William Jackson)
• “Looking for a Boy” by George & Ira Gershwin (from the musical Tip-Toes)
• “Manhattan” by Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers
• “Ukulele Lady” by Gus Kahn & Richard Whiting
• “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” by Gus Kahn & Walter Donaldson
• Works by ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton, including “Shreveport Stomps” and “Milenberg Joys” (with Paul Mares, Walter Melrose, & Leon Roppolo)
• Works by W.C. Handy, including “Friendless Blues” (with Mercedes Gilbert), “Bright Star of Hope” (with Lillian A. Thorsten), and “When the Black Man Has a Nation of His Own” (with J.M. Miller)
• Works by Duke Ellington, including “Jig Walk” and “With You” (both with Joseph “Jo” Trent)
• Works by ‘Fats’ Waller, including “Anybody Here Want To Try My Cabbage” (with Andrea “Andy” Razaf), “Ball and Chain Blues” (with Andrea “Andy” Razaf), and “Campmeetin’ Stomp“
• Works by Bessie Smith including “Dixie Flyer Blues“, “Tired of Voting Blues“, and “Telephone Blues“
• Works by Lovie Austin, including “Back Biting Woman’s Blues“, “Southern Woman’s Blues“, and “Tennessee Blues“
• Works by Sidney Bechet, including “Waltz of Love” (with Spencer Williams), “Naggin’ at Me” (with Rousseau Simmons), and “Dreams of To-morrow” (with Rousseau Simmons)
• Works by Fletcher Henderson, including “Screaming the Blues” (with Fay Barnes)
• Works by Sippie Wallace, including “Can Anybody Take Sweet Mama’s Place” (with Clarence Williams)
• Works by Mrs. H.H.A. (Amy) Beach, including “Lord of the Worlds Above“, Op. 109 (words by Isaac Watts, 1674–1748), “The Greenwood“, Op. 110 (words by William Lisle Bowles, 1762–1850), “The Singer“, Op. 117 (words by Muna Lee, 1895–1965), and “Song in the Hills“, Op. 117, No. 3 (words by Muna Lee, 1895–1965)
Put those creative minds to work and have fun!
J.R. Johnson 
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