Name Charles Brainard | ||
Charles L. Brainard (1903–1988) was active in preserving the papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Information
Brainard was a native of Colorado. He attended Kansas State University, where he studied architecture and then moved to Abilene, Kansas in 1937 to work for the Duckwall department store. Brainard was active in the development of the Eisenhower Center. In 1945 he became a member of the Eisenhower Foundation, a private organization created to develop a memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Foundation acquired the Eisenhower family home in 1947 and opened it to the public. The Foundation also conducted a national fundraising campaign to build a museum to hold the military memorabilia of Dwight D. Eisenhower. This eventually became the Eisenhower Museum, dedicated on Veterans Day in 1954. Due to his architectural training Brainard, he served on a committee to improve the grounds surrounding the home and the museum.
In 1954, President Eisenhower decided to donate his personal papers to the public provided an archive building could be constructed near the Eisenhower Museum to hold them. In 1955 the state of Kansas created the Eisenhower Presidential Library Commission to develop such an archive. Brainard resigned from the Eisenhower Foundation in order to accept an appointment to the Commission. He served as secretary of the Commission during its entire existence. As Secretary, Brainard handled most of the Commission's duties. The Commission established a separate committee, known as the Kansas Governor's National Committee for the Eisenhower Presidential Library, to handle a national fund-raising drive to pay for the buildings.