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September
24, 2007
Library first to host Iraq war exhibit
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By STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader
Correspondent
GOFFSTOWN - Walk into the Goffstown Public Library and the boots are everywhere: atop bookshelves, in the elevator, next to chairs and by the fireplace.
The library has 161 pairs of these used combat boots strewn throughout its building: Each pair represents one of the soldiers from New England who has died in the Iraq war.
The boots are tagged with the names, ages and hometowns of those soldiers, and many of the pairs include personal mementos from their friends and families. Several have dog tags, photographs, flags and notes; one has two bracelets.
"You can hear an audible gasp when people look in a room and see them lined up. There is an emptiness," said Sandy Whipple, a Goffstown librarian. "The reality hits you very hard and very deeply when you see these boots all lined up."
It is hard to miss the boots, hence the name of the exhibit of which they are the main attraction: "Eyes Wide Open: an Exhibition on the Human Costs of the Iraqi War."
The traveling exhibit was put together around 2004 by the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, according to Whipple.
"They want people to see and they want people to listen to what they are seeing because, in their silence, these boots speak volumes," Whipple said.
Originally, the exhibit was the same for all 50 states. But now, due to the growing number of U.S. casualties in Iraq, it has been broken up into individual states or regions, such as New England.
Whipple said she was not aware of any other New Hampshire libraries that plan to host the exhibit. That it is in Goffstown, she said, is fitting for a public library that has a history of taking risks and thinking outside of the box.
"Information doesn't necessarily come in the form of books or electronic forms," Whipple said. "We are in the business of bringing information in whatever form it may be."
In 2005, the Goffstown library hosted another traveling exhibit
this one a replica of the Vietnam War memorial in Washington.
The library is also one of the few in the greater Manchester area that is actively participating in the September Project, founded after September 11 to foster citizenship, tolerance and dialogue.
This exhibit on the conflict in Iraq grew out of the September Project, Whipple said.
She insists the library is not trying to send any political messages with the exhibit or its other activities. The boots speak for themselves, she said, and library patrons can take away whatever message they want from the exhibit.
"We're not trying to sway you," Whipple said. "We don't espouse a particular view. We're a public library. We can't."
Eyes Wide Open will remain in the Goffstown Public Library for the remainder of September.
At the end of the month, Whipple said the library will be sending off each pair of boots with a paper star, collected as part of the September Project last year.
On each star is the wish of a Goffstown resident for a better world.
Reproduced by the Goffstown
Residents Association.
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