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As director of the IHTIA, Kemp oversaw research by master's degree students Pradeep Kumar and Arvind Patel concerning Bollman suspension truss-frame bridges. The box includes their research, including computer-generated data of measurements, photographic prints, postcards, reports, correspondence, transcribed correspondence, scholarly articles, and presentation slides. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: book excerpts, engineering drawings, maps, advertisements, and reports. Subjects include Wendel Bollman; Bollman suspension truss bridges; iron truss suspension bridges; constructing bridges; patenting Bollman's suspension truss bridges; the B&O Railroad Potomac River Crossing in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; and the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge in Savage, Maryland. The following oversize items were moved to Box 344: 11 sheets of facsimiles clippings (1852 and 1995), 31 sheets of facsimile engineering drawings (1852 and undated).

As director of IHTIA, Kemp collaborated on research about Bollman truss, space truss and Fink truss bridges. The box includes these research materials, including computer-generated data, engineering drawings, reports, correspondence, graphs, book excerpts, handwritten notes, post cards and an invitation. The box also includes facsimile book excerpts and facsimile engineering drawings. Subjects include Wendel Bollman; Bollman truss bridges; the B&O Railroad Potomac River Crossing in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge in Savage, Maryland; King's Bridge in Middlecreek Township, Pennsylvania; Fink truss bridges; space truss bridges; patenting bridge designs; compression in bridge parts; bridge loads; and arches. The following oversize items were moved to Box 344: 20 sheets computer print-outs (1985) and 1 facsimile engineering drawing (undated).

The USACE, New Orleans District appointed Kemp as the industrial archaeologist on the project to preserve the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Kemp evaluated whether the spillway should be nominated for the NRHP, and Kemp later published his research as the monograph, "Stemming the Tide: Design and Operation of the Bonnet Carré Spillway and Floodway" as part of the Essays in Public Works History series. The box includes drafts of the monograph, reports, correspondence, photographic prints, photographic negatives, photographic contact sheets, photograph lists, handwritten notes, magazines, interview notes, and an audiotape. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: photographic prints, engineering drawings, handwritten notes, reports, maps, and journal articles. Subjects include the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana; construction of the Bonnet Carré Spillway; Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana; the Lower Mississippi Valley; levees and canals of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana; flood controls along the Mississippi River; and the New Orleans flood of 1927. Correspondents include Malcolm Shuman from the Museum of Geoscience at Louisiana State University and Michael Stout from the USACE, New Orleans District. Highlights include an NRHP evaluation of the Bonnet Carré Spillway and an audio interview with Frederic Chatry, chief of the Engineering Division of the USACE, New Orleans District. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 14, Folder 2: nine engineering drawings (1929 and undated), ten maps (1929, 1959-1960), and one brochure (1983).

The USACE, New Orleans District appointed Kemp as the industrial archaeologist on the project to preserve the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Kemp evaluated whether the spillway should be nominated for the NRHP, and Kemp later published his research as the monograph, "Stemming the Tide: Design and Operation of the Bonnet Carré Spillway and Floodway" as part of the Essays in Public Works History series. The box includes handwritten notes, photographic prints, correspondence, travel ephemera, reports, newsletters, and brochures. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: budget lists, correspondence, engineering drawings, photographic prints, photograph logs, book excerpts, catalog records, contract agreements, bound copies of the United States Congressional Series Set, reports, and expense reports. Subjects include bridges; the construction of the Bonnet Carré Spillway; USACE, New Orleans District; the Illinois Central Railroad; flood control mechanisms in New Orleans; levees; hydraulic systems; mitigation of historic structures; and standards for the NRHP. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 14, Folder 2: six engineering drawings (1929, 1986, and undated), and one brochure (1970).

Kemp researched the B&O Railroad when he was asked to consult on the railroad line. The box contains his research materials, including pamphlets, correspondence, magazines, typescripts, reports, newsletters, itineraries, historic landmark nomination applications, photographic prints, clippings, facsimile articles, etc. Subjects include the Benwood Bridge Centennial Celebration; the Fink Deck Truss Bridge in Lynchburg, VA; the Marion County Centennial, Grafton, WV; B&O railroad sheds; Albert Fink; the President Street Station; B&O at Cheat River Gorge; Rowlesburg - Tunnelton B&O Railroad District; the Kingwood Tunnel; the failure to preserve the Queen City Hotel in Cumberland, MD; the Wheeling Freight Station; etc. The following items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 3, Folder 5: 1) Illustration of a bird's eye view of Bellaire, Ohio (1882); 2) Diagram (1893); 3) Facsimile clipping: Moundsville Echo (1975), Chessie System Railway map by Randy McNally (1973), clipping: Sunday Dominion Post, Taylor County News (1971); 4) clipping: New Station Bridge (undated), clipping (June, undated); 5) Wonderful WV magazine clipping: Rosby's Rock and B&O, a colorful history (undated), B&O RR Museum pamphlet (undated); 6) (3) Facsimile diagrams: east portal for Kingwood Tunnel, brick lining, ring stones, Old Kingwood Tunnel (1911-1934); 7) (5) clippings - Wheeling Freight Station (1975), Moundsville B&O (1975), Kemp at Wheeling City Hall (1974), Earl Core's Monongalia Story (1977-1978), (4) Facsimile clippings (undated); 8) Facsimile journal clipping; American Contract Journal (1885).

Kemp conducted research on the history of civil engineering and bridges, and he collaborated to publish information about the projects of the IHTIA. The box contains the materials from his research, including magazines, book excerpts, reports, photographic prints, articles, handwritten notes, correspondence, and brochures. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: photographic prints, correspondence, and engineering drawings. Subjects include West Virginia structures, wrought iron, bridges civil engineers, and progress in the civil engineering discipline. Highlights include project summaries of IHTIA preservation projects. The following oversized items were moved to Box 344: five brochures (undated).

Kemp maintained research files on bridge companies in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The box includes facsimile book excerpts, facsimile correspondence and facsimile handwritten notes. It also includes reports, engineering drawings and photographs. Subjects include bridge companies; concrete bridges; Spunky Bridge in Catoosa, Oklahoma; Phoenix Bridge in Eagle Rock, Virginia; and Luten Bridge Company. The following oversize item was moved to Box 342: 1 engineering drawing (undated). Two empty folders, "West Virginia Bridge Companies" and "Champion Bridge Companies—Wilmington, Ohio" were removed.

Kemp researched bridges across the United States as part of his restoration efforts and publications. The box includes facsimiles of the following: photographic prints, drawings, patent applications, and book excerpts. Also includes original photographs, slides, clippings and correspondence. Subjects include general bridges; covered bridges; mills; the patenting process for bridge technologies during the 1800s; Rideu Canal in Ottawa, Canada; St. Antonius de Padua Mission in Sacramento, California; Bridgeport Covered Bridge in Bridgeport, California; and buildings in Nevada City, California. The following oversized items were moved to Box 342: one clipping (1983), two engineering drawings (undated), and two sheets of facsimile book excerpts (undated).

Kemp conducted research on bridge patents. He may have been preparing for writing articles and books about bridge patents, including American Bridge Patents: The First Century (1790-1890). It includes correspondence, reports, floppy disks and facsimiles of the following: book excerpts, clippings, engineering drawings, and patent applications. Subjects include bridges, the patenting process, covered bridges, Burr truss bridges, bridge engineers and engineering developments. Correspondents include Richard Sanders Allen. The following oversized items were moved to Box 343: three sheets of a scholarly article (1857) and two sheets of engineering drawings (1857).

Materials were originally housed with Kemp's research on United States bridge patents, which may have been collected in preparation for articles and books including American Bridge Patents: The First Century (1790-1890). This box includes photographs, photo negatives, reports, and facsimile advertisements and directories. Subjects include bridges, the patenting process, patents housed at the Smithsonian, and bridge companies.