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The Wonderful Public Domain of Oz
Posted on November 17, 2025 by Sterling Dudley
Map of Oz; John R. Neill –
Tik-Tok of Oz, first published in the United States in 1914.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the American fairy tale. Like other fairy tales that resonate across time and cultures, this story has seen retellings time and again that morph, recontextualize, and expand the story. This phenomena continues with the second half of the Wicked film duology releasing this November with Wicked: For Good. Let’s explore some of the stories and lore of this American fairy tale that now live in the public domain. All these different stories crafted the lore and world of Oz in the imaginations of audiences around the world.
Books and Literature
Cover to the original 1900 Oz novel
Oz originates in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. Its basic plot is well known: Dorothy of Kansas is swept away to Oz via cyclone. There she meets an exotic cast of characters including the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. Along her journey she faces many challenges in an episodic style as she seeks to return home with the Wizard’s help.
Many fans might believe the Wicked Witch is the novel’s central antagonist, but in fact she appears in just one chapter in the original text. Her larger role in the plot is an association with the 1939 film, an interpretation that became highly influential, as nearly every later Oz story riffs on this idea, including Wicked. Baum would not reuse the Wicked Witch in later novels.
Beyond this original tale are numerous other novels, including another 13 by Baum and 19 by his immediate successor, Ruth Plumly Thompson. Of these 32 tales, 23 were published by the end of 1929 and are in the public domain, including all of Baum’s output. On January 1, 2026, another Plumly Thompson novel, The Yellow Knight of Oz, will join that group. Plumly Thompson’s output ultimately surpassed Baum’s, though her imaginative contributions, including introducing a new main focal character—Peter Brown—remain underappreciated today.
Cover to the first sequel Oz novel
Among Baum’s sequels, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), his first sequel, stands out for introducing Princess Ozma and expanding the mythology of Oz. It is the only one of Baum’s works to not feature Dorothy as a character in the story. Due to popular demand, she would return in Ozma of Oz (1907). In this tale she would be referred to as Dorothy Gale for the first time in the novels, although the name originated in the 1902 musical revue.
Check out all of the Oz books in the public domain in our collections!
Musicals and Sound Recordings
Promotional image for the 1902 musical
Part of Baum’s core campaign in expanding Oz’s reach was his ability to spread it into multi-media. In 1902, he penned the book for a musical revue that differed from his original text and introduced many more characters, including Imogen the Cow. Notable among the work are the plethora of songs created for it that were cycled in and out as the production shifted locations.
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