HathiTrust Collections
As I search through HathiTrust.org, I save books that may make good audiobooks into the collection folders below.
Books in the Years collections are definitely in the Public Domain in the US.
HathiTrust believes the books in the Authors and Subjects/Genres collections are in the Public Domain. You’d want to do due diligence by researching the sites to confirm the book is not still copyrighted. Refer to step 1 in my comprehensive guide Planning Your Trip to Public Domain World.
You might find your next project here…and if you do, let me know! The instructions for downloading a book are here.
Authors
- Anatole France
- J. M. Barrie
- James Branch Cabell
- Wilkie Collins
- Ford Madox Ford
- Zane Grey
- Kathleen Thompson Norris
- Allan Pinkerton
- Will Rogers
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Gene Stratton-Porter
- Booth Tarkington
- Albert Terhune
- H. G. Wells
- P. G. Wodehouse
Subjects/Genres
- Baseball
- Biographies/Memoirs
- Children’s Books
- Diaries and Letters
- Fiction
- History and Crime
- Pirates
- Plays
- Short Stories
- WW II
Years
Every book in the yearly collections is PD in the United States. All books published in the US in 1930 enter the PD on 1/1/26, so it’s not too soon to find one, produce the audiobook, and be ready to publish at year-end!
- 1925 Books The books in this collection entered the public domain on 1 January 2021.
- 1926 Books The books in this collection entered the public domain on 1 January 2022.
- 1927 Books The books in this collection entered the public domain on 1 January 2023.
- 1928 Books The books in this collection entered the public domain on 1 January 2024.
- 1929 Books The books in this collection entered the public domain on 1 January 2025.