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Kemp co-wrote the book Cement Mills along the Potomac River with Thomas F. Hahn. The box includes preparation for the book, such as documents from the research process and studies of structures built with natural cement. The box includes correspondence, essay drafts, clippings, brochures, handwritten notes, curriculum vitae, magazines, photographic prints, engineering drawings, and reports. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: clippings, handwritten notes, photographic prints, correspondence, drawings, engineering drawings, maps, photographic prints and book excerpts. Subjects include the natural cement industry; mills along the Potomac Valley; limes; concretes; hydraulic mortar and lime; the Alexandria Canal; Maskell C. Ewing; William Turbull; cement kilns; the history of Shepherdstown, West Virginia; the Shepherdstown Cement Mill in Shepherdstown, West Virginia; Saylor Park Cement Industry Museum in Coplay, Pennsylvania; and the C&O Canal. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 13, Folder 2: 1 brochure (undated), 1 map (undated), and three sheets of clippings (1985).

Kemp maintained research files on bridges and engineering. The box includes facsimile book excerpts and facsimile engineering drawings. Subjects include railroad bridges, truss bridges, historic structures, the history of civil engineering and mechanics.

Kemp collected drawings and card-mounted photographs as pictorial reference for research. Subjects include structures from Europe and the United States, including bridges, railroad bridges, canals, cathedrals, lighthouses, mills, rivers, and turpentine distillery. The Antietam mills, B&O Railroad, Erie Canal, Menai Strait, Schuylkill River, Susquehanna River, the city of Conway, Wales and the city of Wheeling, West Virginia each appear in multiple drawings.

Kemp collected drawings as pictorial reference for research. Subjects include structures from Europe and the United States, including bridges, railroad bridges, villages, coal towns and piers. The Conway Tubular Bridge in Conway, Wales and the city of Richmond, Virginia both appear in multiple drawings.

Kemp researched bridge patents and compiled the reports of others in preparation for his book American Bridge Patents: The First Century (1790-1890) and other publications. The box includes correspondence, book excerpts, drafts of publications, reports, lists of patents, and clippings. Correspondents include David Simmons and Joy Chau. Highlights include many HAER reports on bridges in Ohio.