Here is one of the most popular posts from my Ask a Tech Teacher education blog:
Every year, January 1st, is Public Domain Day. This is an observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain–free for all to use. According to Public Domain Review, here are some of the newly-available artistic works you might like a/o January 1, 2023: 
The picture above is interactive. If you click it, you enter Public Domain Review’s website and can then explore each of these new sources of inspiration, free to use.
One that caught my attention is Winnie the Pooh. Knowing that, I should feel comfortable posting his picture: 
But I’m not a brave sort, so I blurred him and then pixelated him (with Lunapic). I will be waiting until I’ve seen his Pooh face all over the place!
Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:
–photo image from Deposit Photos
Copyright ©2023 worddreams.wordpress.com – All rights reserved.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga, Man vs. Nature which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also the author of the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers and Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. Her non-fiction includes over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, reviews as an Amazon Vine Voice, a columnist for NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Savage Land Winter 2024.
worddreams.wordpress.com 
I use Pixabay, Canva or Wikipedia for my images as they have commons free pictures 🙂
Great idea, thanks for sharing Jacqui.
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Me too, to all of those. I also use Deposit Photos because they gave me a free account! They have a great collection.
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I haven’t heard of Deposit Photos, must check it out 🙂
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oh this is great Jacqui. I always use Upsplash as they have been user friendly and I haven’t had to sign up. Maybe I’m doing something wrong. I’ll look closer. thanks 🙏🏼
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That’s another good one, Cindy. I love their images, just not enough of them!
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True.. any tips to get on the others for free?
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Well, Pexels is free and has beautiful pictures. Canva has wonderful images, but only free if you have a plus account.
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I’ll look into it again, thanks so much. i did like Canva and was using them but got outta practice, Thansk a lt.
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I read that Winnie was in the public domain. He is such a favourite of mine. John Rieber mentioned there is a horror movie being made featuring Winnie and I was a little horrified.
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That’s why Milne’s estate should have protected it. Yikes!
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Well, the son was bitter towards his father because of this series so I suppose he didn’t care. I’m sure he took the money and royalties though (eye roll)
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Didn’t know that. Talk about ‘cut off your nose to spite your face’. Wow.
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Great info Jacqui. Thank you! Out of curiosity I checked and found that Winnie the Pooh was first published in 1926. Remarkable storytelling considering it continues to be relevant today, almost a hundred years later, with newer generations logging into it.
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It is! I still feel warm and fuzzy seeing the Pooh bear.
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Great info, Jacqui! I also learned most US government orgs like National Park Service have free images we can use, too, especially if you need animals and scenery. Library of Congress has an entire site dedicated to royalty-free public domain images: https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/ Before WP added pexels, I used and still use Unsplash (note I don’t use these for any photo challenges). Sadly, Shutterstock crept into Unsplash and commandeered many good ones. Thanks for sharing this copyright info!
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I’m so glad you mentioned those, Terri. I actually used these for my military books–they are excellent resources.
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Excellent info, I had no idea. Thanks for sharing:)
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That copyright stuff is tricky. I did (finally) copyright all of my fiction books.
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Good on you. That’s huge.
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My 140 ed books–I may have to take my time with those!
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Now that’s going to be a job.
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Jacqui, I appreciate you sharing this site. My writing would welcome some possible images to use with my posts.
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Pixabay is a great choice, then Pexels. Both are easy to use and popular. I used Deposit Photo but there’s a fee for that one.
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Great resource at that public domain site.
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It is an excellent site. Thanks for commenting.
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Fascinating, Jacqui and some great classics are now available! I recall seeing and studying ~ Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in the German Film section of my university course! It will never grow old!
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I haven’t heard of that one. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks, Annika.
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Thanks, Jacqui – This is very interesting and useful information. I greatly appreciate you sharing it.
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Copyrights get crazier every year. It’s become a cottage industry to find people who misuse images and then make them pay. What a mess!
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Didn’t know about that, Jacqui – thanks for letting us know. I feel a bit uneasy that suddenly a writer’s work becomes a “free for all.” Toni x
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Well, you have to be dead 70 years and then whoever inherited your works has to have NOT protected them. Then, yes–Free for all!
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When books et al enter the public domain, that ends the royalties that the estates of the deceased had been receiving. That’s a big loss of income for a whole lot of people.
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Where does revenue from sales to, then?
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I guess it all goes to the manufacturers, such as book publishers. They no longer would have to pay royalties to the heirs of the creators.
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There is a lot of useful information on this blog. I finally saved the https://publicdomainreview.org/… link. Thank you Jacqui
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That’s a fascinating site.
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Very interesting info, Jacqui. I must admit that the possibility of copyright violation terrifies me.
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Me, too. I’m pretty crazy about it. I pay for pictures rather than risk a violation.
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I actually haven’t heard of this one. I’ll check it out.
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You will love it, Andrew. It’s amazing what ISN’T copyrighted anymore.
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I’m always leery about using any images other than Pixabay, Jacqui. It takes some research to make sure the ones selected are free to use and what kind of attribution they need. Thanks for sharing the Public Domain Review. 😀
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Pexels is good too, but lots of others have meh pictures.
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I’m usually looking for fantasy and Pixabay is my best bet, but I’ll keep Pexels in mind! Thanks.
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This is good information. I do follow these guys somewhat and it is interesting.
There are strange things about Winnie The Pooh since Disney used it and I would not be sure which images you could use or not.
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Agreed. And good point about Disney’s involvement. I hadn’t thought of that.
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Yes, I was going to bring up Disney’s Pooh. They guard their copyrights and trademarks very closely and they’re more recent. I would expect this would only apply to the original Winnie the Pooh books. I’m also curious if the illustrations become public domain at the same time as the literature. I would guess, not in all cases since the artist sometimes retains rights to their illustrations and they are published with permission in books. A sticky wicket!
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A lot of good points. I’m pretty paranoid of copyright violations.
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There are always legal concerns and fines to fear, but as an artist, I also strive to protect the rights of other artists. I don’t think it’s paranoid to be careful, Jacquie. It’s respectful and kind.
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A day to be celebrated indeed! Love this link to newly released public domain materials. and I definitely should subscribe. 🙂
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It is easy to forget because Jan. 1st is all about the New Year, but PD Day is big.
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Thanks Jacqui for your dedication to sharing good stuff. I like to use Copyright properties.
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I do pay for quite a few pictures, but many are too expensive so I rely on PD for the bulk of my marketing needs. I found this intriguing.
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Thanks for sharing, Jacqui. Your education blog always contains useful information.
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This is amazing stuff. I used to think anything really worthwhile would be protected even after its day, but that’s not true. Don’t know why but there are amazing creative works now available to all.
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I didn’t realise that Winnie has just entered the public domain. While I understand how valuable thirse expiration dates can be for teachers, it’s otherwise a bit sad to see people’s work become totally available.
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I think there’s a way for creator’s estates to extend that protection–like Disney does–so I hope when they don’t, they are happily sharing
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That’s an interesting list–with works by Kafka, Hesse, and James Weldon Johnson… three favorites.
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Maybe they’ll be on Gutenberg now. Though Kafka–I’m OK skipping him!
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I subscribe to the Public Domain Review!
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They have some interesting material, don’t they?
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Yes, they do. I’m always on the lookout for images I might be able to use.
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For learning how to write, masterworks in the public domain allow teachers and students to share aha moments and content without concern for violating copyrights.
For example, a deep dive into L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz helped me see how traditional story structure enriched the story. A fun study that opened my eyes to the use of public domain literature and art. Because everything used was in the public domain, I included in my posts W. W. Denslow’s gorgeous artwork and an image of the book’s original cover.
If anyone is interested, I’ve included a link to the first of six posts in the series (https://tameyourbook.com/personalize-story-structure-part-1/).
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That use of public domain creations is an important learning step, not only on how to find these works but on why they matter. Thanks for sharing the link.
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Good to know about the public domain. It’s probably a great resource for teachers.
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Absolutely, and bloggers looking for pictures to add life to posts. I pay for some of my pictures, get the rest from PD sites.
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Public Domain is such an important topic/facility for educators and writers.
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Lots of adults don’t understand the concept of ‘owned creations’. They think if it’s on Google images, it’s free. Not.
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Too true.
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I see why this is such a popular post. Very educational, Jacqui. Thank you!
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Thank you, Brad. A lot of writers search for pictures for blog posts or marketing materials and don’t want to pay thousands for them. Public Domain is a great option, used wisely.
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Thanks for the news, Jacqui! Honestly i would wish copyrights of books and writings will never expire. It’s the hard work of persons, and seldom honored too much. Best wishes, Michael
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Creators can extend their copyright. They only go into the public domain if the owners allow it (or forget to do something!). I think that works well though I’d love to see what other countries do.
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Reblogged this on https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Thanks for sharing!
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