Some or all works by this author are in the public domain in the United States because they are legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) before 1964, and copyright was not renewed.

• For Class A renewals records (books only) published between 1923 and 1963, check the Stanford University Copyright Renewal Database.
• For other renewal records of publications between 1922–1950 see the University of Pennsylvania copyright records scans.
• For all records since 1978, search the U.S. Copyright Office records.

Works published in 1939 would have had to renew their copyright in either 1966 or 1967, i.e. at least 27 years after it was first published / registered but not later than in the 28th year. As it was not renewed, it entered the public domain on 1 January 1968.
It is imperative that contributors search the renewal databases and ascertain that there is no evidence of a copyright renewal before using this license. Failure to do so will result in the deletion of the work as a copyright violation.

The author died in 1993, so works by this author are also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 25 years or less. Works by this author may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.