As of January 1, 2019, works published in 1923 – literature, movies, images – are now in the public domain. The public domain refers to works that are available to the public with no copyright restrictions; works published in 1922 and prior had already been in the public domain, and if copyright laws remain unchanged, each new year until 2073 will see a new batch of published works enter the public domain (next year, works from 1924; the year after that, works from 1925).

Are there any ways you might be able to use these new open materials in your courses? I teach music courses; alas, copyright for standalone sound recordings isn’t as straightforward, but I can freely distribute sheet music of these pieces or look at examples of music in film.