What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2011?

Current US law extends copyright protections for 70 years from the date of the authors death. (Corporate works-for-hire are copyrighted for 95 years.) But prior to the 1976 Copyright Act (which became effective in 1978), the maximum copyright term was 56 years (an initial term of 28 years, renewable for another 28 years). Under those laws, works published in 1954 would be passing into the public domain on January 1, 2011.

What might you be able to read or print online, quote as much as you want, or translate, republish or make a play or a movie from?

And here's a list of the authors whose works did enter public domain this weekend.