K0055 Charles Newton Kimball (1911-1994) Papers 1911-1991 2522 Folders (44 Cubic Feet) 2 Microfilm Reels and 2 Oversize Items
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THE STATE HISTORCIAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-KANSAS CITY K0055 Charles Newton Kimball (1911-1994) Papers 1911-1991 2522 folders (44 cubic feet) 2 microfilm reels and 2 oversize items Personal and professional papers of a scientist, civic leader, and president of the Midwest Research Institute encompassing a range of economic and community development activities regionally and nationally. BIOGRAPHY Dr. Charles N. Kimball was president emeritus of Midwest Research Institute (MRI) at the time he donated these papers to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection. His association with MRI spans more than three decades of Institute growth and outstanding achievement. As president of MRI from 1950 to 1975, Dr. Kimball provided the executive leadership for MRI to become one of the nation’s most prominent not-for-profit research organizations in science and technology. He subsequently served as chairman of the Institute’s Board of Trustees until 1979, when he assumed the position of president emeritus. During this period, Dr. Kimball has also been an acknowledged leader of Kansas City and the Midwest. The story of Charles Newton Kimball did not begin in Kansas City, but in Boston. Of English-Irish parentage with a firm background in New England, he was born April 21, 1911, in Charlestown, near Boston, right on Bunker Hill. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood, and saved enough and worked enough to pay his way through Northeastern University, from which he received his undergraduate degree. He enrolled in graduate school at Harvard University, where he earned master’s and doctorate degrees, in 1932 and 1933 respectively. His first job was with RCA, which launched him on a career in the then relatively new field of telecommunications, and involved him in electronics and aircraft equipment. While working at RCA, Dr. Kimball also taught in the New York University graduate program for two years (1939-1941). SHSMO-KC April 21, 2011 REVISED K0055 Charles Newton Kimball (1911-1994) Papers Page ii Charles Kimball first came to Kansas City during World War II as vice president and director of the Aircraft Accessory Corporation, later called Aireon Manufacturing Company. He worked there on radar counter-measure devices and developed radio communications systems for moving trains. He later was employed by the C.J. Patterson Company, where he applied electronics to the baking and milling industries. In 1948, Kimball left the Kansas City area to become the technical director of the research division of Bendix Aviation Corporation in Detroit. But he had caught the attention of Kansas City’s leadership, and in early 1950 he received an urgent call to return and accept the presidency of Midwest Research Institute. This he did, and in 1950 on his 39th birthday, he returned to Kansas City as president of the fledgling research institute. During the ensuing years, the name of Charles Kimball became synonymous with that of Midwest Research Institute, which had been founded in 1944 to assist in broadening the economic base of the region. MRI’s research efforts, especially designed to stimulate economic development in America’s heartland, depended on identifying the research needs of paying sponsors and meeting those needs with careful, practical scientific investigations. The Institute also served as a clearinghouse for scientific information to be shared with the community, and as a focal point of technical assistance to large and small industrial and agricultural interests, as well as to state, local and federal agencies. A major interest at Midwest Research Institute under Kimball’s leadership was the transfer of specialized technology from one industry to more generalized use among many industries. One example of this commitment to “technology transfer” was a major NASA program contracted to MRI to distribute advances gained from aerospace research into U.S. domestic markets. The underlying belief in the fundamentally productive relationship between technology and society is expressed in two books of selections compiled from Kimball’s public presentations: Problems and Promises—Technology in a Changing World (1968) and Interface: Technology/Society (1973). Kimball’s impact extends far beyond the business environment of MRI. The leadership qualities which led the MRI Board of Directors to engage him in 1950, soon came to play a major role in promoting Kansas City and encouraging its social, economic, and cultural development. He became one of Kansas City’s and the Midwest’s biggest boosters, personally active in campaigns to bring major league baseball to Kansas City, to establish Kansas City as one of the ten federal regional centers, and to integrate the University of Kansas City into the Missouri University System. Among the organizations with which he has worked to promote the Greater Kansas City area are the Mid-Continent Development Council, the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City, the Civic Council, the Kansas City Area Economic Development Council. Perhaps the most significant effort was his work with Hallmark board chairman Donald J. Hall to establish the Kansas City SHSMO-KC April 21, 2011 REVISED K0055 Charles Newton Kimball (1911-1994) Papers Page iii Prime Time organization. They directed public relations activities to enhance Kansas City’s visibility and image throughout the nation, to identify the city as an area for economic development, and to stimulate convention and visitor business for the city. The high point of the Prime Time effort was Kansas City’s role as host city for the 1976 Republican National Convention. In the philanthropic arena, Kimball was president, then chairman of the United Way, and helped to reshape that organization’s direction. He has led in the establishment of two organizations of great importance to the community’s future. He has been a leader in the Clearinghouse for Midcontinent Foundations since its start in 1975, and was the first chairman and “founding father” of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, established in 1979. He actively supports the Mid America Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Hospital, and is a guiding force behind the St. Luke’s Foundation. Kimball worked with both traditional and non-traditional educational institutions to advance educational opportunities in Kansas City. The University of Kansas City, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Kansas City Art Institute, Rockhurst College, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Menninger Foundation in nearby Topeka were among those who benefited from his specialized efforts. In 1957, he was one of the founders of Science Pioneers, the organization which sponsors the annual Greater Kansas City Science Fair and other science educational activities. Since its earliest days, the Kansas City Fair has been recognized as one of the most successful of such endeavors across the country. While MRI has been the central focus of Kimball’s business life, two corporate boards were especially important to him—Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, on whose board he served from 1962 to 1976, and Trans World Airlines and Trans World Corporation, where he as a board member 1965 to 1981. Kimball did not limit his vision to the Kansas City area, or even to the Midcontinent region. In 1957, President Eisenhower called on him to chair a White House conference on research and development for small business. Drawing on his leadership abilities, his business contacts from throughout the nation, and his vision of what could be, Kimball conducted a most successful conference. Likewise, his work with the Committee for Economic Development, the Young Presidents Organization, and the Chief Executives Forum permitted Kimball to promote the Kansas City area while working for the greater good of the entire nation. In 1977, he became a member of the Advisory Council for the Office of Technology Assessment, a research arm of the U.S. Congress, and he was chairman of this prestigious committee for four year. Kimball himself realized the benefits of space age technology when on the eve of the Institute’s 25th anniversary annual meeting in May of 1970, he was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital for the insertion of a pacemaker to correct a heart regulatory problem. He has had five replacements in the intervening 17 years. SHSMO-KC April 21, 2011 REVISED K0055 Charles Newton Kimball (1911-1994) Papers Page iv A Sunday painter of watercolors since 1954, Kimball has had his works displayed in public spaces on a number of occasions. His greatest post-retirement interest, though, has become genealogy and family history. He has published books recounting the history of his own and his wife’s families through several generations. Whether it related to directing scientific research, community development, fund-raising efforts, or the use of technological accomplishments, Kimball has adhered to his favorite injunction, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” And he often encourages others to benefit by accepting that advice as well. PROVENANCE Dr. Charles N. Kimball donated his personal and professional papers to the University of Missouri by a contract signed on May 8, 1981. The materials were received in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on May 14, 1981 as accession KA0082. Dr. Charles Kimball gave these additions to his personal and professional papers as accessions KA0394 (January 1, 1987), KA0414 (April 18, 1987), KA0418 (May 13, 1987), KA0490 (October 31, 1988) and KA0608 (October 16, 1990). COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS: The donor, Dr. Charles N. Kimball, has given and assigned to the University all rights of copyright which the Donor has in the Materials and in such of the Donor’s works as may be found among any collections of Materials received by the University from others. PREFERRED CITATION: Specific item; folder number; Charles Newton Kimball (1911-1994) Papers (KC0055); The State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Kansas City [after first mention may be abbreviated to SHSMO-KC].