Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

Kemp served as a consultant on the restoration of the Wheeling Custom House, an Italianate building known for its innovative rolled wrought iron beams, floor arches and cast iron columns. The Wheeling Custom House (also known as West Virginia Independence Hall) was the site of the state's constitutional conventions in 1863. Box includes correspondence, handwritten structural notes, magazine clippings, facsimile article references, etc. Subjects include the Wheeling Custom House, I-beams, wrought iron, steel making, cast iron, etc.

Kemp served as a consultant on the restoration of the Wheeling Custom House, an Italianate building known for its innovative rolled wrought iron beams, floor arches and cast iron columns. The Wheeling Custom House (also known as West Virginia Independence Hall) was the site of the state's constitutional conventions in 1863. Box includes magazines, reports, pamphlets, correspondence, and facsimile reference articles, drawings, etc. Subjects include the New Orleans Custom House, the Georgetown Custom Office, etc. Highlights include the NRHP nomination summary for the Wheeling Custom House and a 1986 structural report of the Wheeling Custom House.

Kemp garnered support for the restoration of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge along with Beverly Fluty. He also consulted on the plans for restoring the bridge along with the consulting firm Howard, Needles, Tammen and Bergendorf (now HNTB). The box includes his correspondence, draft handwritten reports, handwritten calculations, meeting minutes, contracts and clippings. It also includes facsimile clippings and letters. Subjects include trusses and anchorage on bridges; testing the chemical composition of metallic bridges and tensile testing on bridges; wrought iron; the Wheeling Suspension Bridge's construction; its status as a National Historic Landmark; and revitalizing Wheeling, West Virginia. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 10, Folder 6: 36 sheets of newspaper (1847-1856, 1978-1983) and 1 chart (undated).

Kemp researched the Wheeling Suspension Bridge in Wheeling, West Virginia for a number of publications and as part of consulting on the restoration of the bridge in the second half of the twentieth century. The box includes handwritten notes, draft typed and handwritten reports, correspondence and catalog records. The box also includes facsimiles of the following: correspondence, book excerpts, scholarly articles, draft reports, press releases, and handwritten notes. Subjects include the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company, repairing the bridge, other suspension bridges in the United States, Smithsonian and NPS exhibitions about physical structures, cable wires and Charles Ellet Jr. Highlights include a draft report by Kemp for the Friends of Wheeling Inc. on preserving the bridge. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 10, Folder 5: three flowcharts (undated). The folder "Spanning Niagara, 1848-1962" arrived empty and was removed.

Kemp wrote the book The Wheeling Suspension Bridge: A Pictorial Heritage with Beverly Fluty. This box includes materials Kemp collected in preparation for the book, including photographic prints, photographic negatives, a draft of the book, lists, drawings, reports, postcards, and floppy disks. Subjects include the Lehigh Gap Bridge in Palmerton, Pennsylvania; Wheeling Suspension Bridge in Wheeling, West Virginia; Charles Ellet Jr.; the bridge's conditions; and the bridge's use. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 10, Folder 3: one engineering drawing (undated) and one map (undated).