Recently declassified British Ministry of Defence maps with imaginary cold war battles will go on public display for the first time in a major exhibition next year.
The British Library on Thursday announced its 2016 exhibition programme which will include the strikingly diverse subjects of 20th century maps, Shakespeare, punk between 1976-78, and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote.
The big autumn show is called 20th Century Through Maps and will explore world history, culture and ideas using items from the library’s vast cartography collection.
It will include never-displayed MoD maps used for military college exams in the 1950s and 1960s and which reflect the political uncertainties of the time.
One map of southern England has battle lines drawn of a war between Fantasia and Anglia. Another has an imagined map of the US prison Alcatraz superimposed on Wales. On another a nuclear explosion is imagined in Edinburgh with the fallout drawn in a north-westerly direction.
Also on display will be a chilling 1940 Nazi map of the US on which researchers used census data to show how many first and second generation European immigrants resided in each state.
The figures were for people from Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, and the idea was to help Goebbels’ propaganda ministry decide where to push their “this war’s not for you” message.
It is remarkably detailed. “This map more than any other looks like a map we would expect today,” said Tom Harper, the library’s maps curator. “We’re used to having these maps and charts and infographics all around us.”
There will also be Soviet maps of British towns “as good if not better than anything the Ordnance Survey was doing”.
The maps show will follow an exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death – the first major show on the playwright staged by the library since it became an independent institution in 1973.
Shakespeare in Ten Acts will use 10 significant performances to explore different aspects of his genius. “It has been a joy to go deep into the collections and present something new and fresh,” said the library’s chief executive, Roly Keating. “You will see some remarkable treasures.”
Items will include rare examples of his handwriting including a signature on a mortgage deed and the one surviving play script in his hand, which is a revision to the play Sir Thomas More.
Smaller exhibitons will include one marking another 400th anniversary, Cervantes’ death in 1616. Imagining Don Quixote will take four key episodes from the book and explore how they have been interpreted over time.
The 40th anniversary of punk will be marked between May and December with a display including back issues of the fanzine Sniffin’ Glue, and audio from a BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat programme of a patronising interview with hot new band the Sex Pistols. “The country’s a bleeding right state, isn’t it,” says Steve Jones, the guitarist. “What are you hoping to do about it?” asks the interviewer. “Make it worse.”
