We (present company included) can quit
some of our kvetching about the unavailability of books and other published works, for reproduction, modification, etc., that were copyrighted from 1923 forward.
OpenCulture.com reported today that nearly 11,000 texts from the year 1923 are now available on
the OpenCulture website, "in multiple digital formats," thanks to
the Internet Archive.
(You may not be familiar with
Open Culture. However, I have been on their mailing list for years, and have absolutely no doubt that they are "on the up and up.")
This welcome development comes about due to the expiration of the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act," which expiration allows the U.S. Copyright Office to release "a year's worth of art, literature, scholarship, photography, film, etc. into the public domain" each year.
Wanna browse some of the nearly freed works, which were copyrighted in 1923? I recommend that you click on
this link, which will take you to the Internet Archive. Some good soul has already plugged in the applicable search terms--all that you have to do is to click on "Go" to begin your quest.
I'm excited about this development. It means that the works published this year . . . let's see . . . will be available when I'm only 199 years old. Well, I suppose that I can use my library card until then . . . .