Thousands of books and other works published in the U.S. in 1923 entered the public domain on January 1, 2019. According to The Atlantic, this was “the first time since 1998 for a mass shift to the public domain of material protected under copyright. It’s also the beginning of a new annual tradition: For several decades from 2019 onward, each New Year’s Day will unleash a full year’s worth of works published 95 years earlier.”
To celebrate the creative potential of these new public domain materials, we created a Color Our Collections PDF featuring images from books in the JMU Libraries’ collections – both the Special Collections and the circulating collection – that were originally published in 1923.
Download the 17-page PDF here and discover enchanting images ready for your markers or coloring pencils. You’ll find fairies, princesses, giants, sailing ships, flowers, and more, all from the imaginations of illustrators 95 years ago.
Find more coloring pages from libraries and museums around the world by searching for the hashtag #ColorOurCollections or by visiting www.colorourcollections.org.