Public Domain

I'm putting together an anthology, and want to use material published in the U.S. in both book and magazine form before 1923. Can I assume this material is in the public domain; that is, is there any way a book or magazine article first published more than 75 years ago could not be in the public domain? If so, how can I check the status of the piece? And finally, is the public domain status of this type of material affected when it is reprinted? (I want to use an excerpt from a book published in 1895 which has been reprinted twice since 1985.)

Thanks for your help.

Joli Sandoz
The Evergreen State College
sandozj[_at_]evergreen.edu Received on Fri Sep 25 1998 - 20:31:17 GMT