Tom Harper

Tom Harper
Position
Curator, Antiquarian mapping
Specialism
Early printed maps, educational mapping, 20th century maps, map collections
Department
Collections

Tom is a lead curator of antiquarian mapping at the British Library. He co-curated (with Peter Barber) the 2010 exhibition ‘Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art’, and (with Philip Hatfield) ‘Lines in the Ice: Seeking the Northwest Passage’ in 2014-15. He also curated the 2016-2017 exhibition on ‘Maps and the 20th Century: Drawing the Line’. 

Blog: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/magnificentmaps/index.html
Twitter: @BLMaps
 

Publications

Exhibitions

  • ‘Fortunate survivors: maps and map fragments in the Bagford Collection’ Electronic British Library Journal, article 1, 2010.
  • Peter Barber and Tom Harper, Magnificent maps: Power, propaganda and art (London: The British Library, 2010).
  • ‘The extraordinary Klencke Atlas’ in IMCoS journal, no.122 (Autumn 2010).
  • ‘Magnificent maps at the British Library’ in ACSM Bulletin no.247, October 2010.
  • British Library Diary 2012: details from historic maps (London: Francis Lincoln, 2011).
  • Tim Bryars and Tom Harper, A History of the 20th century in 100 Maps (London: The British Library, 2014). 


Subjects

Detail of OSD 267(pt.2). Ordnance Surveyors’ Drawings. Boyce, draughtsman. 1814

Maps

The British Library collection of maps, plans and views is one of the largest in the world, numbering some 4.5 million