Is There a List of Everything That Is Public Domain?

There is a lot of material in the public domain. For instance, The Library of Congress holds 13 million prints and photographs as well as 200,000 film titles. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of drawings, maps, posters and other media available. The National Archives has eight million photographs and 150,000 reels of film, 160,000 sound recordings and more than 20,000 video tapes. Much of this material is public domain, and this is only what is available at two places!

Because of the sheer volume of material available, no one list of all of it exists, and if it did, it would be too big to print! Luckily, there are manageable lists and catalogs of parts of these collections, usually organized by subject. There is a book listing these catalogs, and how to get them (many for free). The book is called "How to Find Free & Low-Cost Images on Almost Any Subject". You can also see a catalog of some popular items, and see A List of Stories and Characters That Have Had Their Copyright Expire.

Although material may be public domain, this does not always mean you can legally use it. The book "How to Use Images Legally" covers the four layers of ownership in every image, of which copyright is just one.

An experienced researcher can tell you about images on your subject "out there", and find just the material you need.

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