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Kemp conducted research on engineers who designed famous suspension bridges in preparation for several publications, including the lecture and article, "James Finley and the Origins of the Modern Suspension Bridge." He also advised Don Sayenga's research and managed applications to the West Virginia Academy of Civil Engineers. The box includes typed and handwritten notes, applications, correspondence and transcripts of handwritten correspondence. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: news clippings, correspondence, and book excerpts. Subjects include James Finley; Charles Ellet Jr.; John A. Roebling; John Templeton; the Wheeling Suspension Bridge in Wheeling, West Virginia; the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge in Niagara Falls, New York; Jacob's Creek Bridge in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania; Canadian engineers; bridges of Pennsylvania and Western Maryland; and policies across the civil engineering academic community.

Kemp wrote the article "The Little Kanawha Navigation" for the journal Canal History and Technology Proceedings. This box contains reseasrch materials, including facsimile reports, correspondence, articles, book excerpts, magazines, clippings, bibliographies, photos, handwritten notes, oral history transcriptions, cost sheets, etc. Subjects include the Little Kanawha Navigation, river traffic, boats, shipping, Gilmer County history, Burning Springs, Burnsville Dam, inland waterways, locks, covered bridges, the West Virginia General Assembly, etc. Highlights include 1907 freight ticket and steam vessel inspection application, a 1908 correspondence regarding the steamboat inspection service, and Larry Sypolt's list of Little Kanawha boats. The following items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 2, Folder 2-3: thirty-seven facsimile clippings (1860-1930, 1987), nine pages of facsimile steamboat shipping bills (1874-1899, two facsimiles of Hardesty's Encyclopedia entries for Kanawha, Calhoun, and Wirt Counties (1889), four facsimile maps (1937, 2003, undated), facsimile data sheets and inspection certificates (1876), and one brochure (1975).

Kemp wrote the article "The Little Kanawha Navigation" for the journal Canal History and Technology Proceedings. This box contains research materials, including mostly facsimile clippings, reports, handwritten correspondence, allotments, operational expenses, river traffic data, pamphlets, itineraries, magazines, grant applications, research notes, photographs, government documents etc. Subjects include USACE, Work Project Administration, Colonel Thomas Tavenner, Johnson Newlon Camden, Sam Hays, Little Kanawha Navigation, locks, the history of the Huntington District, Burnsville folk studies, Wirt County, steamboats, oil springs, the Flood Control Act of 1936. Highlights include West Virginia Division of Highways reports on Creston and Little Kanawha River locks, shipping tickets, toll notes, and bound copies of the United States Congressional Series Set, dated between 1839 and 1880. The following items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 2, Folder 4: approximately fifty sheets of facsimile newspapers (1865-1984), two facsimile maps (undated), and The River-The West Virginia Hillbilly Publication (1976).

Kemp researched the Strauss lift bridge (known as 18th Street Lift Bridge) on the Louisville and Portland Canal in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky in 1992. The box includes the original bibliographies and facsimile documents such as bound copies of the United States Congressional Series Set, scrapbooks, book excerpts, articles, maps, engineering drawings, etc. Subjects include Louisville, the Louisville and Portland Canal, the Ohio River, the Ohio River Valley, the Louisville Cement Company and construction on the Louisville and Portland Canal. Highlights include facsimile reports from the USACE. The following oversize materials were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 4, Drawer 5: Two sheets of engineering drawings (1856), ten maps (1839-1886 and undated).

Kemp's student Thomas Hahn published on the C&O Canal. Includes books and bound copies of the United States Congressional Series Set. Subjects include people involved in the C&O Canal, commerce on waterways, Monongahela River improvements, the Louisville and Portland Canal, the B&O Railroad, etc.

Kemp researched canals. The box includes pamphlets, memorandums, facsimile articles, magazine excerpts, HAER report, correspondence, diagrams, photos, and a book. Subjects include canals in New York, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic Sea Coast. Subjects also include the C&O Canal's Conococheague Creek Aqueduct in Williamsport, Washington County, Maryland; the Schuylkill Navigation Company Lock #39; New York locks; pioneer boats; and transportation on the Upper James River. The following oversize materials were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 4, Folder 4: four pamphlets (1983 and undated), five maps (1978-1998 and undated), eight sheets of clippings (undated).

Kemp and the IHTIA consulted on a number of restoration projects. This box contains materials from the Ross Hatfield House and Garage renovation in Mannington, Marion County, West Virginia (1999); the move of the Putnam-Houser House ("Maple Shade") from Belpre, Washington County, Ohio to Blennerhassett Historical Park on Blennerhassett Island in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia (1986); restoration of the McFarland-Hubbard House in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia (1999); exhibit development at the Intermodal Transportation Center in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia (undated); the Basque Ship investigation in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (1999); the development of the National Bridge Museum and Research Center in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia (1998); lighting for the Wheeling Suspension Bridge (1996-1997); the rehabilitation of the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California (1982); and a survey of the Mowersville Road Bridge in Mowersville, Franklin County, Pennsylvania (1998). The box includes notes, clippings, correspondence, newsletters, reports, edited drafts of reports, photographic slides, images of pigments, lists of contacts, programs for events, budget lists, journal articles, transparencies, bibliographies, and photographic prints. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: engineering drawings, notes, clippings, correspondence, photographic prints, book excerpts, event programs and posters, budgets, maps, and illustrations. Subjects include the preservation of woods and metals, bridge preservation and restoration, historic house preservation and restoration, and the interpretation of historical industrial spaces. Each folder contains materials from a different consulting project. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 15, Folder 2: two engineering drawings (1996-1999).

Kemp collected records of the United States Senate and House of Representatives that were relevant to his research endeavors. This box contains bound copies of the United States Congressional Series Set. Subjects include expeditions to the West, Civil War naval battles, ships and shipping regulations, and boats in the United States.