Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

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).

Kemp maintained research files about bridges and assisted in planning the historical marker about the Brownsville Cast Iron Arch Bridge (also called the Dunlap's Creek Bridge) in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The box includes correspondence, photographic prints, photographic slides, scholarly journal articles, reports, student papers, event programs and newsletters. The box also includes the following facsimiles: correspondence, reports, photographs, journal articles, book excerpts, clippings and engineering drawings. Subjects include the Brownsville Cast Iron Arch Bridge, bridges of Europe and North America, engineering, railroad bridges, the history of bridge architecture in the United States and bridge construction. The following oversize items were moved to Map Cabinet 12, Drawer 11, Folder 4: one map (1987), ten sheets of clippings (1883-1885 and undated), and three engineering drawings (1987 and undated).