Throughout March and April, the Menlo Park Main Library is hosting a special exhibition and event series exploring separation and reunion over multiple American wars. Showcasing veterans and their families adjusting to civilian life together–or facing the long-term costs of war–this powerful exhibition explores feelings of grief, joy, doubt and love, bringing the real experiences of war home to all of us.

The traveling exhibition War Comes Home: The Legacy is a partnership between California Humanities, the California State Library and Exhibit Envoy. The traveling exhibition features thirteen interpretive panels of photographs, plus personal correspondence from almost every major conflict in U.S. history. An audio tour is also available for visitors.

The library has scheduled thirteen, “War Comes Home: The Legacy” events, in conjunction with the traveling exhibition. The first event of the series featured Arthur Adams, who as a draftee in World War II experienced life as a prisoner of war in Germany—twice. Upcoming visitors will include a medical researcher reporting on traumatic brain injury, a former incarceree of an American concentration camp for Japanese Americans, a former refugee talking about being a child fleeing Vietnam upon the Fall of Saigon, an actor portraying veteran & screen legend Audie Murphy, and a film historian talking about Walt Disney’s World War II-era propaganda films. 

All of the “War Comes Home” events are free and open to the public. The full listing is available on the Menlo Park Main Library website.