First copyright renewals for periodicals

This is an inventory of periodicals and their first copyright renewals (if any). Most periodicals published in the US prior to 1964 had to renew their issue copyrights after 28 years in order to retain copyright on the issue. (Contributions included within the issue could also have their own copyrights, which can be independent of their issue's copyright.) For more information on copyright renewal requirements, see this page. Our guide "Determining copyright status of serial issues"` has information on how to use this and other data to identify public domain and copyrighted periodical content.

The list below should include all of the more than 1000 periodicals with renewed issue or contribution copyrights (for 1926-1950 issues) between 1953 and 1977, as well as selected periodicals with renewals filed between 1978 and 1992, or that do not have active copyright renewals. (After 1992, copyright renewal was automatic or no longer required.) This may be useful as a guide to people who are interested in digitizing certain periodicals, to point out serials for which further copyright research may be fruitful. A link on a serial title goes to more detailed, structured information on that serial's copyrights. Titles displayed in this list with emphasis have free online content available, linked from their detailed copyright information page.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Some caveats (many further discussed in our guide) to keep in mind:

This compilation was made by John Mark Ockerbloom, with assistance from Alison Miner and Carly Sewell, based on listings in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, published by the US Copyright Office. JSON data files for this compilation can be downloaded from Github. We wish to thank the Institute for Museum and Library Services for financially supporting the compilation of these listings in 2017 and 2018 via a grant to the University of Pennsylvania. Further contributions of information are welcome; contact the editor (ockerblo(at)pobox.upenn.edu) for information on contributing. Note that as of January 1, 2021, 1925 and earlier copyrights for periodical content have expired. We are now in the process of updating these listings to reflect the earliest renewals that are still active (i.e. those for 1926 and later).

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