How To Research Public Domain Magazines

Do you have a blog? How about ten or fifteen blogs? I have over 40 blogs, hub pages, squidoo lenses… etc. Yikes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now… I know how hard it is to keep all those blogs and content hosting websites filled with fresh new content. Some blogs were getting very stale… until I found Public Domain Magazines. Woot!

Magazines are filled with great material for blogs already written in article length. I spent many happy hours on eBay purchasing magazines on a ton of different subjects. The packages were rolling up to the front door on a regular basis.

Then… I realized that I was wasting money. Not because these magazines weren’t great… but not all old magazines are in the Public Domain. And… if they are, some of the content may not be.

I was a bit discouraged by the notion that I had an office filling up with stacks of periodicals that may only be good for kindling.

Anyway…. I spent some time figuring out how I could research these magazines “better”. I needed a system.

It’s a bit difficult to research a magazine when all you can see is a picture of the cover. And… if I was lucky enough to find a stack of old magazines at a yard sale or at my local bookstore; I still didn’t have a way to research them. I would need to purchase the magazine before the research could begin

Researching Copyright for Public Domain Magazines.

The easiest way to get your hands on great magazines in the public domain… is to just buy, buy.. buy.

They usually aren’t very expensive and if you have done minimal research… chances are most of the content will be in the Public Domain.

What do I mean by minimal research? Have a list of magazines that are most likely in the public domain and stick with those. Then when you have them in your hot little hands and in front of a computer, you can dig deeper with your research.

Now… let’s get into an example:

I found an old periodical that looks as if all issues are in the Public Domain, but… I need to document the research and check to see if the articles are useable as well.

The name of the magazine: Profitable Hobbies
Publisher: Modern Handcraft Inc.
Published Year: March, 1954
Volume 10 Number 3

So now I can check on the magazine copyright status:

http://www.copyright.gov/records

I searched for the periodical title and publisher name.

Your search found no results!!!

Okay… but what about the article I want to use?

Title of Article: Libby’s Lamps Light Lots of Homes
Author: Patrick J. Galvin
Published Year: 1954 + 28 yrs : 1982
Note if article is republished from a book or previously published.

I searched the author name:

Just to make sure, I put the name in several ways:

P. Galvin
Pat Galvin
Patrick Galvin
Galvin P

Finally I did get some results

None of these results refer to the article I want to use.

As a side note: The legal area of this magazine lists Patrick J. Galvin as the photographer also.

If the image has a recognizable brand or product featured in the photograph the logo, brand or manufacture name may be copyrighted. This would require another go at the Copyright research just for those images.

Okay… now I am convinced that I have a magazine with an article I would like to use that is in the Public Domain.

This article is 6 pages of very interesting, and unusual content. It’s actually a story with some great business advice woven in. Because the article is so long, I can break it up into at leas 8 blog posts or use it for a mini-report to sell.

I spent about $8 including postage for some very interesting content. And… this magazine has at least 3 other articles that I will research.

The fact that it takes a bit more time and effort should not discourage you from learning how to research public domain magazines.