resources
indexes
archives
audio
images
apis
nameauthtypenotes
arXivnonetexts · science · preprintsOpen access scientific scholarly articles
Chronicling Americanonenewspapers · texts · historical · usHistorical US newspapers (full text)
DPLAfree keycultural · texts · images · usCultural heritage data from thousands of US institutions
Europeanafree keycultural · images · searchCultural heritage data from thousands of European institutions
GeoNamesfree accountgeography · place-names · globalFree geographical database
Harvard Art Museumsfree keyart · images · metadataThe Harvard Art Museums API (rich provenance data)
Internet Archivenonetexts · audio · video · searchInternet Archive Developer Portal (full-text search, media access)
Library of Congressnonetexts · photos · maps · governmentNewspapers, photos, maps
Met Museumnoneart · images · metadataThe Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API
NASAnone / free keyspace · images · scienceNASA API portal (images, earth data, etc)
Open Librarynonebooks · metadata · coversBook discovery and lookup services
Open Notifynonespace · real-timeNASA’s open data (ISS location, astronauts in space, etc)
OpenAlexnoneacademic · metadata · globalComprehensive index of the world's research
Openversefree keyimages · audio · cc-licensedOpenly licensed images & audio
Overpass APInonegeography · maps · osmQuery OpenStreetMap data programmatically
PubChemnonescience · chemistry · compoundsOpen chemistry database
Rijksmuseumfree keyart · images · dutchFull museum collection with high-res images
Treflenonescience · botanyBotanical data source and REST API (1M+ plant species)
Wikidatanonestructured · knowledge · globalFree knowledge base, SPARQL endpoint
Wikimedianonetexts · images · encyclopedicCommons, Wikipedia, Wikidata
datasets
nametypenotes
Awesome Public Datasetsmeta-list · generalList of public datasets by domain
CERN Open Datascience · physicsParticle physics data from LHC experiments
Common Crawlweb · corpus · large-scaleOpen repository of web crawl data
Copernicus Climate Data Storescience · climate · environmentalInformation about the Earth's past, present and future climate
Free GIS Datageography · mapsComprehensive directory of free GIS datasets
GDELT Projectevents · news · global · real-timeWorld's broadcast, print, and web news
Global Biodiversity Information Facilityscience · biology · speciesOpen access to biodiversity data
Google Dataset Searchmeta-search · generalSearch engine across public datasets
Humanitarian Data Exchangehumanitarian · social · globalOpen data platform for humanitarian data
Kaggle Datasetsgeneral · mlCommunity-shared datasets across multiple domains
Open Humansscience · health · personalOpen human health and genomics data
OpenStreetMapgeography · maps · globalFully open collaborative map data
Our World in Datasocial · economics · globalResearch and data on global development
Treflescience · botanyBotanical data source and REST API (1M+ plant species)
UCI ML Repositoryml · general · academicCollection of databases used by the machine learning community
UN Datasocial · economics · globalUN statistical databases
Wikidataknowledge · structured · globalLinked open data knowledge base
Wikipedia Data Dumpstexts · knowledge · corpusFull Wikipedia database as downloadable datasets
World Bank Open Dataeconomics · globalGlobal development indicators, country-level data
Zenodoscience · research · academicOpen repository for EU-funded research outputs
advocacy
library
books
essays
videos
  • A digital library, free to the world 2007 — by Brewster Kahle — TEDFree universal access to all human knowledge.
  • Disenshittify or die! 2023 — by Cory DoctorowHow hackers can seize the means of computation.
  • Free Software, Free Society 2008 — by Richard StallmanThe canonical lecture form of Stallman's argument for why software freedom is a social issue, not a technical preference.
  • Freedom in the Cloud 2010 — by Eben Moglen — ISOC-NYGPL author on software freedom, surveillance, and the cloud.
  • How we stopped SOPA 2013 — by Aaron Swartz — F2COrganizing against information enclosure.
  • Laws that choke creativity 2007 — by Lawrence Lessig — TEDRemix culture vs. Read-only culture.
  • Seizing the Means of Computation 2023 — by Cory Doctorow — Internet ArchiveThe talk version of The Internet Con — why interoperability is the key lever and why individual choices cannot substitute for structural change.
  • The dotCommunist Manifesto 2003 — by Eben MoglenOn the political economy of free software and the inevitable triumph of the commons.
  • The Internet's Original Sin 2014 — by Renee DiRestaDRM, surveillance, and the enclosure of the digital commons.
manifestos
licenses
  • Apache License 2.0 2004 — by Apache Software FoundationPermissive, enterprise-friendly, includes explicit patent grant.
  • Choose a License 2013 — by GitHubEasy guide to picking the right license; good starting point.
  • Creative Commons BY 4.0 2013 — by Creative CommonsAttribution only. Most permissive CC license. Standard for open educational resources.
  • Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 2013 — by Creative CommonsAttribution + share-alike. Copyleft for cultural works. Used by Wikipedia.
  • Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 2009 — by Creative CommonsThe public domain dedication. Waives all rights worldwide; for data, text, media.
  • GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL) 2007 — by Free Software FoundationGPL extended to cover network use — closes the SaaS loophole.
  • GNU General Public License v3 2007 — by Free Software FoundationThe most politically significant copyleft license. Derivatives must stay free.
  • MIT License 1988 — by MITThe simplest permissive license; do anything, keep the copyright notice.
  • Mozilla Public License 2.0 2012 — by Mozilla FoundationFile-level copyleft — a middle ground between MIT and GPL.
  • Open Database License (ODbL) 2009 — by Open Data CommonsCopyleft license for databases. Used by OpenStreetMap.
  • REUSE Specification 2019 — by Free Software Foundation EuropeModern standard for declaring licenses per-file in a codebase.
  • SPDX License List 2010 — by Linux FoundationAuthoritative list of standardised open source license identifiers; used in package managers.
  • The Unlicense 2010 — by Unlicense.orgA template for releasing software into the public domain with no conditions.
gallery
about
public-domain.club

public-domain.club is an archive of free information; datasets, texts, images, archives, and apis that are either in the public domain, openly licensed, or freely accessible without restriction.

All links verified periodically. Found a dead link or have a suggestion? Open an issue on codeberg.

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