Search The Public Domain Review

    The Public Domain Review

    Explore

    1,228 posts in Collections featuring public domain content from 243 source institutions; 384 essays, including 29 in Curator’s Choice and 21 in Conjectures, from 322 authors; 955 prints in our online shop; and 10,919 images in the Public Domain Image Archive.

    Essays
    Collectionsby Era
    Collectionsby Theme
    Editor’s Pickby Category
    Editor’s Pickby Theme
    PDR on Bookshop.org
    A hand-picked selection of recently published books which in some way tap into the tastes and concerns of The Public Domain Review. For any sales made through our store we'll get 10% commission and a matching 10% goes to independent bookstores.
    UK StoreUS Store
    Popular Tags
    death44war39colonialism38animals37design33occult33religion32japan31architecture29language27london26victorian25anatomy24drugs24medicine24astronomy23photography23sex23black history23maps23fairytales23flowers22geometry21france21retrofuturism20poetry20early photography20birds19satire19alphabet19art18spiritualism18education18fashion18politics18christianity18illustration18cats17dreams17magic17racism17cartography17christmas17colour17edison16science fiction16folklore16technology16animation16alphabet books15painting15music15love15modernism15astrology15botany15slavery15moon15fish14electricity14new york14paris13future history13monsters13bible13victorian13diary13fairy tales13children's book13color13ghosts12gardens12travel12murder12opera12
    Browse All Tags
    Further Reading
    Browse Further Reading Suggestions
    PDR Index

    Alphabet made of humans, Butter churning as sexual innuendo, Cats as musical instrument

    Explore our PDR Index
    Explore by Source
    Library of Congress
    Library of Congress132 collectionsOn the WebOn PDR
    The Metropolitan Museum
    The Metropolitan Museum29 collectionsOn the WebOn PDR
    US National Library of Medicine
    US National Library of Medicine18 collectionsOn the WebOn PDR
    Wellcome Collection
    Wellcome Collection46 collectionsOn the WebOn PDR
    Explore All Sources
    Explore by ImageVia the Public Domain Image Archive
    Contributors

    Meet Peter Schmidt, Allison C. Meier, Caroline Wazer, and the 319 other Authors who have contributed to The Public Domain Review

    Ancient Courses print
    Eight Shadow Figures print
    Blue Root print
    Meteor Shower print
    Shop Our Range of PrintsPremium prints using pigment-based archival inks (Giclee process) on high grade heavyweight art paper. Available as unframed or framed and ready to hang.Free Shipping to US, UK, EU, Canada, and Australia.

    PD Remix

    We’re always looking for ways to create and play with material in the public domain. Play our caption competition or make animated GIFs from archival film or image collages. Suggest new forms to create.

    Learn More

    Conjectures

    We launched our Conjectures series as a laboratory for experiments with historical form and historical method. Why might such a thing be wanted? And why here on The Public Domain Review? The last thirty years has witnessed a genuine revolution in history. The digitization of vast bodies of historical source material (books, archives, images), together with new technologies of access to those sources (the internet, search engines, text tools), has transformed the way we see, feel, read, and imagine what came before the present. The Public Domain Review was born in response to this new world…

    Learn More

    Curator’s Choice

    Our Curator’s Choice series came to an end in February 2016. Each month we featured a special guest post from a gallery, library, archive or museum curator reflecting upon a group of works in one of their open digital collections. This series aimed to be a celebratory spotlight on both the institutions making the exciting steps of openly licensing their digital collections and also the curators that work every day with such collections – as well, of course, as being a celebration of the content itself.

    Learn More