Celebrate free access: Public Domain Day 2026
At the start of the new year, we celebrate the release of a new selection of collection items into the Public Domain. This year, Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is making approximately eight hundred items freely downloadable via Digital Collections.
The works and authors listed below are just a selection of the complete works from Leiden University Libraries' Special Collections that are digitally available in the public domain. After entering a search query, you can filter for items in the Public Domain under "use and reproduction" in Digital Collections. For more information about using Digital Collections, please watch our instructional videos.
Prints and drawings
Strange portraits by Jaap Nieweg who was inspired by Vincent van Gogh, gloomy landscapes by Dirk Nijland, who was fascinated by the connection between water and humanity, and a wild horse race by Frans de Nocker; just a few of the forty digitised drawings now freely available to all Digital Collections users. In this category, single works by Dutch painter Anna Kerling and Charley Toorop, the talented daughter of the famous Jan Toorop (1858-1928), are also definitely worth mentioning.
Correspondence
Leiden's Special Collections preserve several remarkable correspondences. Some of these are available digitally through Digital Collections. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje corresponded with scientists, government officials, and public figures. Fifteen correspondences from this archive are now freely available for viewing: for example, letters written by John Raleigh Mott (Nobel Prize laureate, evangelist, and leader of the YMCA), J.H. Vernhout (biologist), and C.H. de Goeje (cartographer and cultural anthropologist). Four items from the Snouck Hurgronje archive available in the Public Domain contain correspondence between the pioneering Hungarian-Jewish Islamic scholar Ignaz Goldziher and the renowned Leiden Arabist. Several letters from Ada Geertruida Went-Beets (1872-1955) to her father Nicolaas Beets are also now freely available for viewing. Furthermore, some correspondence from the archives of Willem Lodewijk de Vreese and De Gids is now available in the public domain.
Photography
Van de in 1955 overleden fotografen in de collecties van de UBL waren de meesten portretfotograaf. Het is duidelijk te zien dat de ene meer vooruitstrevend werkte dan de andere. Zo is bijvoorbeeld de meer klassieke portretfotografie van Cornelis Leijenaar, Marten Bolkestein, Jan Bouman en Johan H. Holm nu vrij te bekijken en te downloaden. Uitzonderingen op dit genre zijn drie zeer modern ogende gedigitaliseerde werken van de jong overleden Amerikaanse fotograaf Sid Grossman en de picturalistische werken van de eveneens Amerikaanse G.H. Seeley.
-
Dieng. Tjandi Puntodewo dan Tjandi Sembodro. Sebelum diperbaiki. Keadaan pada bulan Oktober 1955, dilihat dari Barat Laut, [OD-20066] -
Sadjen, Patjet. Prasedjarah. Megalithen, [OD-20340] -
Sadjen, Patjet. Prasedjarah. Megalithen, [OD-20346] -
Randuagung, Lumadjang. Penjelidikan achir bulan Djuli 1955, dilihat dari Tenggara, [OD-19977] -
Batusangkar. Medan bapaneh, tachta-tachta megalithikum, [OD-20204] -
Tjirebon, [OD-20299] -
Tengkulak, Bedulu. Pura Gandalangu. Artja-artja lepas dihalaman pura, [OD-20313]
Archaeology
For those interested in Southeast Asian archaeology, a true treasure trove will once again open this year. Dozens of photographs taken by the Dutch East Indies Archaeological Service, part of the Kern Institute's photography collection, are now available for everyone to see and use. Nearly five hundred photographs of archaeological digs, temples, and other culturally significant sites in Indonesia, cataloged in Bahasa Indonesia, are now available in the Public Domain.
Public Domain Day 2026
Unfortunately, Public Domain Day 2026 has been moved to a new, to be determined date due to expected weather conditions.
On January 9th, we welcome everyone who supports the free use of media in the public domain to Leiden University's Academy Building for Public Domain Day 2026. This Dutch language event is an initiative of the Public Domain taskforce of the Vereniging Open Nederland and is organized by organizations including the Netwerk Digitaal Erfgoed, Beeld & Geluid, KB, Nationale Bibliotheek Nederland, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Wikimedia the Netherlands, Leiden University Libraries, Open Nederland, and copyclear.
Public Domain and use
In the Netherlands, copyright on a creative expression usually expires 70 years after the creator's death. This means that virtually all works by creators who died in 1955 become available for public use. If a heritage institution chooses to make digital reproductions of collection items publicly available after that date, those images can be used freely by anyone for any conceivable purpose without permission from the creator or the heritage institution. Of the more than 560,000 objects in Leiden's Digital Collections, more than 306,000 have now been made available in the Public Domain.