Emory L. Kemp Papers regarding Industrial History A&M 4230

Emory L. Kemp Papers regarding Industrial History A&M 4230


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West Virginia and Regional History Center

1549 University Ave.
P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
Business Number: 304-293-3536
wvrhcref@westvirginia.libanswers.com
URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu

Alanna Natanson

Repository
West Virginia and Regional History Center
Identification
A&M 4230
Title
Emory L. Kemp Papers regarding Industrial History 1735-2021
URL:
https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/ark:/99999/207354
Quantity
154.83 Linear Feet, 152 document cases, 5 in. each; 92 document cases, 4 in. each; 68 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each; 32 record cartons, 15 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 1.5 in.; 7 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each; 4 flat storage boxes, 4 in. each; 1 small storage box, 6 1/2 in.; 1 index card box, 12 in.; 2 oversized items, 1.5 in. total; 2 microfilm reels, 1.75 in. each; 146 oversized folders, 18 in.
Quantity
6.31 Gigabytes, 678 files, formats include ASC, BK!, CAP, CHP, CIF, DOC, DOCX, ED, ELK, JPG, FRM, M4A, MON, MOV, MP4, PAP, PDF, PPT, PPTX, R2D, RTF, TIF, TRE, TXT, VGR, W51, WMA, WP, WPD, WPS, XLSX.
Creator
Kemp, Emory L.
Location
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English

Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

All or part of this collection is stored offsite. Please make an appointment prior to visiting.

Researchers may access digitized and born digital materials by visiting the link attached to each item or by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Emory L. Kemp Papers regarding Industrial History, A&M 4230, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Processing Information

Materials arrived sorted into boxes, generally based on the individual project for which Kemp used the items. A project can be defined as an endeavor that Kemp took on for a concentrated period of time centered on one structure, geographic location, or theme. Examples include the restoration of a historic site or set of historic sites that share a common purpose, documentation of a historic site or set of historic sites that share a common purpose, a publication, a conference, or a grant application. Some boxes appeared to be a mix of materials from various projects and subjects. Such boxes were categorized by the most prominent project or subject within the box or were determined "Miscellaneous."

Some boxes were organized around a common topic rather than a project, especially if Kemp returned to a particular topic throughout his career (an example is research on concrete, a body of scholarship that Kemp drew on for a variety of projects).

At arrival, only some boxes had materials arranged into folders. Where arrangement within a box was obvious (such as materials segregated into manila folders), original arrangement was retained. Otherwise, items were sorted within boxes by format, or, when possible, by sub-topic.

Boxes were clumped together by individual project or topic. The series were created to reflect general categories of purposes for which Kemp used the materials. However, the series "Oversize Material" was not separated based on Kemp's purpose for using the materials; it was created to house all the items from other series that arrived folded inside boxes and do not fit in their original boxes when unfolded.

Because Kemp used so many of the materials in the collection for research, the series "Research Files" was broken down into sub-series by type of project. Boxes were occasionally combined when space allowed and when the materials originated from the same project. Boxes were also occasionally combined when items inside each box did not originate from just one project or just one type of project.

Additionally, Kemp separately donated books from his personal library, which he used throughout his career.

All born-digital materials housed on floppy disks, compact discs, or USB drives were uploaded to repository servers.

Any box and folder citations created before July 2019 may rely upon Kemp's original arrangement and may no longer be accurate. For assistance locating material using an older citation, please ask a staff member of the West Virginia and Regional History Center.


Biographical / Historical

Emory Leland Kemp was born to Emory Lelan Kemp and Anita Mae Hucker Kemp on October 1, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to Champaign, Illinois when he was four, and he attended the South Side School and later the University of Illinois High School. Although his teachers at the high school—faculty members at the university—encouraged Kemp to study history, he chose to enter the College of Engineering, just as his father had studied engineering before him. Kemp graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1952, and the school honored him with the prestigious Ira O. Baker Award as the top-ranked undergraduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering.

Following graduation, Kemp became an assistant engineer with the Illinois Water Survey until war broke out in Korea and the government drafted Kemp into the United States Army. His former boss, now a colonel in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, transferred Kemp to work with the USACE in Alexandria, Virginia. After two years developing a detector for non-magnetic landmines with the USACE, Kemp applied to and accepted a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England. He studied advanced mathematics and developed an interest in thin concrete roofs. In addition to receiving a Diploma of Imperial College (similar to a Master's degree) after two years in London, Kemp also met his life's partner, Janet. The two were married in 1958, and had three children in the United States: Mark, Alison and Geoffrey.

After his diploma, Kemp remained in London and worked on thin concrete shell rooves for Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners. He transferred to Arup and Partners, where he worked on the design behind the Sydney Opera House (developing the pre-stress and post-tension piles on the end of the building) and the hangars at the Royal Air Force Abingdon station. Soon, however, the University of Illinois invited Kemp to return to Champaign to complete a PhD in structural mechanics on full scholarship. He completed a dissertation on torsion in reinforced concrete in 1962. That same year, a faculty position at West Virginia University's School of Engineering became available. Kemp got the job, so he, Janet, and their children moved to Morgantown, West Virginia. He quickly rose to chair the Civil Engineering Department. Under his administration, the Department grew rapidly and received national acclaim. When James Harlow became president of West Virginia University (WVU) in 1967, he sent Kemp to the University of Oklahoma to study their History of Science program. Kemp was intrigued, and soon acquired approval to plan a similar course of study through WVU's History Department. He taught classes on the Industrial Revolution and the history of technology, but did not successfully convince the College of Engineering to require its engineering students to take courses in the history of science. During the 1970s, Kemp became involved in a number of historic preservation projects in West Virginia. First, he got involved in restoring the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, which needed repairs to its suspension wires. Kemp assisted with multiple rounds of restoration on the historic bridge. Then, West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation consulted Kemp on the restoration of the building in which West Virginia seceded from Virginia (although Kemp always referred to the building by its original title, the "Wheeling Custom House"). Kemp investigated the nine-inch wrought-iron I-beams that supported the ceilings and upper floors of the building, and assisted the foundation in interpreting the building as a museum. By the end of the 1970s, Kemp had earned recognition throughout the preservation community. Government agencies contracted with Kemp to document historic industrial and transportation structures through archival photographs and large-scale engineering drawings, so the materials could be submitted to the Historic American Engineering Record. The West Virginia state government also consulted Kemp for a number of projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s, especially involving work on covered bridges. For instance, when the roof of the Philippi Covered Bridge burned in a fire in February 1989, the state hired Kemp to oversee the restoration. Using innovative techniques for covering the top and supporting the old frame with new beams, Kemp gave the bridge its original 1861 appearance. He also assisted in the restoration of the Staats Mill and Barrackville Covered Bridges. Kemp's personal research interests centered on industrial processes in West Virginia, including mining, milling, glassmaking, and railroads. Kemp also founded and co-founded a number of organizations. First, Kemp got involved with a movement to bring the British discipline of industrial archaeology (the study of physical remnants of industrial structures as a method to understand our manufacturing past) to the United States. Kemp helped to found the Society for Industrial Archeology (SIA) in 1971, served as the first editor of the affiliated journal, IA, in 1975, and eventually became SIA's president from 1988-1990. Kemp also founded the historic preservation and repurposing organization, Vandalia Heritage Foundation, in 1999. He was a founding member of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia in 1981. In 1990, Kemp received Congressional funding to establish an Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology (IHTIA) at WVU. The IHTIA, which became Kemp's full time job, provided historic preservation consultations, documented historic structures, held workshops and field schools, and published monographs. Over the course of its history, the IHTIA generated $13 million of research funding and worked on an estimated 86 projects. For all of Kemp's work to preserve historic structures and encourage the spread of information about the history of industrial technology and transportation, the American Society of Civil Engineers named him a Distinguished Member in 2004. By the time he retired in the early 2000s, Kemp had devoted a lifetime to studying and celebrating America's industrial past.

Scope and Contents

This collection includes materials from Dr. Emory L. Kemp's career of researching, documenting, and preserving historic structures. Kemp was a practicing civil engineer from 1952-1959, then taught civil engineering, historic preservation, and the history of technology from 1962-2003 at West Virginia University. He served as an expert consultant for the preservation of many historic engineering structures, including bridges, waterways, and mills. He also published regularly and remained active in several professional organizations.

Materials includes correspondence, engineering drawings, drawings, various styles and types of maps, photographic prints, photographic contact sheets, photographic negatives, drafts of monographs, bound copies of the United States Congressional Series, published scholarly articles and books, book excerpts, reports, computer-generated data, handwritten notes, oral histories and oral history transcripts, brochures, and realia. A significant amount concerns Kemp's process of documenting historic structures for the Historic American Engineering Record and the National Register of Historic Places.

All contents fall within 1735 and 2021. The bulk of the original materials are from 1959-1999. Almost all the materials from 1735-1949 are facsimiles that Kemp collected for his research.

Most of the materials pertain to West Virginia and surrounding states: Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Kemp also consulted on projects in other states and countries, such as Alabama, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and Zimbabwe. Personal materials discuss Kemp's experience in Illinois. In addition, Kemp's research on industrial archeology (the study of the physical evidence of industry and technology) focuses on Great Britain and Australia but also includes places in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Other states and countries appear briefly as part of Kemp's study of historic bridges, including California, Russia, France, China, and Peru.

Subjects include suspension bridges of West Virginia, covered bridges in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, the history of suspension bridges, bridge preservation, locks and dams in West Virginia (especially along the Kanawha River), navigation along other bodies of water (especially the Muskingum River), industrial structures and industrial production in West Virginia and surrounding states, civil engineers (especially Charles Ellet, Jr.), cement and concrete, the history of engineering, industrial archeology, principles of historic preservation, the process of documenting materials to the standards of the Historic American Engineering Record, Kemp's affiliations within West Virginia University (especially WVU's Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology), his affiliations with the American Society of Civil Engineers, and his affiliation with the Society for Industrial Archeology. Throughout the collection, several of Kemp's largest restoration projects appear regularly: the Wheeling Suspension Bridge over the Ohio River in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia; the Wheeling Custom House (also known as West Virginia Independence Hall) in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia; and the West Virginia Covered Bridge Survey that Kemp completed for the West Virginia Department of Highways.

Within this finding aid, the term "engineering drawings" was used to describe materials that may be defined within the engineering field as blueprints, measured drawings, or floor plans. The term "contact sheet" was used to describe a photographic print clearly produced to make a rough draft, positive print of an image from a single negative or photographic negatives on a roll of film (created by holding photograph paper emulsion-to-emulsion with the negative). In addition, the following terms that regularly appeared in the collection have been abbreviated:

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O Railroad)
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal)
United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology (IHTIA)
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)
Historic American Building Survey (HABS)
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)
National Forest (NF)
National Park Service (NPS)
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), previously the Soil Conservation Service (SCS)
West Virginia University (WVU)
United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Arrangement

Research Files (1735-2017)
Bridges (1735-2016)
Waterways (1804-2015)
Industrial structures (1807-2017)
Engineers, the history of engineering, and general historical topics (1770, 1805-2010)
Historic buildings (1810-2002)
Building materials (1829-2002)
Kemp's Library (1855-2015) Kemp's Professional Writings (1804-2015) Kemp's Other Professional Activities (1849, 1909, 1952-2018) Oversize Materials (undated) Oral History (2017-2018) Addendum of 2019: Records of Trips, Engineering Papers, Edinburgh Fellowship, Suspension Bridge Papers, Miscellaneous (1848-2021) Addendum of 2021/04/05 (1768-2014) Addendum of 2020: Engineering drawings, maps, other miscellaneous (1909-2003)

Separated Material

Packet of "Early 20th Century Commercial Wood Engravings" booklets ("The S. George Company/The Gramlee Collection/The Permutation Press," "The Stock/Product Block," "The Monogram Block," "The Barrel Label Block," "The Stock Block," and "The Company Block," all copyright 1982 by the Permutation Press) were separated to the Rare Book Room to join related materials on wood engravings.

1 reel of duplicate microfilm of A&M 3007, Little Kanawha River Records, moved to duplicate A&M microfilm.

1 reel of microfilm of the Elizabeth Gazette newspaper, Mar 13 1867 - Jan 11 1869, moved to duplicate newspaper microfilm.


Subjects and Indexing Terms


Significant Persons Associated With the Collection

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Significant Places Associated With the Collection

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Container List

Series 1. Research Files
1735–2017
Scope and Contents

This series contains materials Kemp collected and produced throughout his career in preparation for publications, documentation efforts, and preservation work. It contains six subseries: "Bridges;" "Waterways;" "Industrial Structures;" "Engineers, the History of Engineering, and General Historical Topics;" "Historic Buildings;" and "Building Materials."

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Series 2. Kemp's Library
1855–2015
Scope and Contents

This series contains the books Kemp donated from his personal library. Subjects include engineering, bridges, canals, railways, the history of science and technology, industrial archaeology, and general history.

Books are also scattered throughout the series "Research Files."

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Series 3. Kemp's Professional Writings
1804–2015
Scope and Contents

This series includes published and unpublished copies of Kemp's academic scholarship. It includes drafts of monographs where Kemp did not also collect significant research material for the preparation of the monograph (for draft copies of the works The Great Kanawha Navigation or Taming the Muskingum, consult the series, "Research Files," sub-series "Research on Waterways").

Formats include published scholarly articles, published scholarly book reviews, monograph drafts, correspondence, photographic prints, engineering drawings, handwritten and typed notes, and clippings. Significant amounts of the material are facsimiles.

Subjects include Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia; Tygart Dam, Taylor County, West Virginia; historic structures in Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia; historic bridges; cement mills on the Potomac River; wastewater treatment; historic preservation; and industrial archaeology.

Drafts of professional writings may also appear in the series "Kemp's Other Professional Activities" and "Research Files."

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Series 4. Kemp's Other Professional Activities
1849, 1909, 1952-2018Bulk, 1952–2018
Scope and Contents

The series includes materials Kemp collected and produced while serving professional organizations, including WVU. Some of these materials come from conferences that Kemp helped to organize. The series also includes materials Kemp collected when receiving recognition for his achievements. Finally, there are miscellaneous materials from his personal life.

Formats include draft monographs, correspondence, newsletters, applications for grants and awards, conference proposals, clippings, brochures, and photographic prints.

Subjects include Marc Séguin, Kemp's affiliations at WVU, the ASCE, preserving engineering innovations, industrial archaeology, and a WVU exhibit honoring Kemp.

Highlights include early photographic prints of Kemp, Kemp's correspondence with his parents from his time serving in the USACE, his original Fulbright scholarship, a construction hat, and a 1955 article by Kemp about American bridge designing.

Some material on conferences that Kemp organized appear in the series "Research Files," sub-series "Bridges." Kemp speaks about his professional activities in his oral histories in the series "Oral Histories."

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Series 5. Oversize Materials
undated
Scope and Contents

This series includes the oversize materials from the boxes in all previous series. It also includes the materials (almost all photographic prints) from an exhibit Kemp worked on in partnership with the Clarksburg-Harrison County Library about Frank Duff McEnteer.

Formats include engineering drawings, maps, clippings, brochures, and handwritten notes. Subjects include historic bridges, covered bridges of West Virginia, historic buildings, canals, locks and dams, and West Virginia's industrial history.

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Series 6. Oral Histories
2017–2018
Scope and Contents

This series includes video and audio recordings for the oral histories conducted with Kemp. The series also includes accessory video clips made at the same time as the oral histories that visually complement the oral histories. Finally, the series includes digital planning documents for the oral histories.

The series includes a digital copy of Kemp's curriculum vitae, which provides rich description of Kemp's projects. A digital spreadsheet also highlights major accomplishments in Kemp's career. Partial transcripts of the interviews are available in a digital format.

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Series 7. Addendum of 2019, Records of Trips, Engineering Papers, Edinburgh Fellowship, Suspension Bridge Papers, Miscellaneous
Mixed Materials Box: 349 Mixed Materials Box: 350 Mixed Materials Box: 351 1848-2021
Scope and Contents

This series includes materials Kemp collected, worked on and produced between ca.1950s-2003. This series includes materials from his trip to Russia and collaboration with Dr. Mikhail Mikeshin, International Foundation for the History of Science; materials from his fellowship at the University of Edinburgh and his trip to the United Kingdom; mixed materials on early suspension bridges; correspondence, journals, manuscript translation in Japanese from his collaboration with Dr. Haruzau Ohashi; materials about King's Covered Bridge; the Wheeling Suspension Bridge; engineering papers on Helical staircases, torsion and concrete knee joints; also includes booklet on Civil War, information on the founding of the Daughters of the American Revolution [DAR], booklets on the Wright brothers and early Aeroplanes. Includes facsimiles of articles from ca.1800s. Also includes a file with family miscellaneous and a photo of Dr. Kemp.

Formats include: Correspondence, photographic prints, photographic negatives, brochures, souvenir booklets, journals, manuscripts, papers, drawings, clippings, postcards, facsimiles (including photocopies of originals)

Subjects include: Russia, United Kingdom, Britain, Scotland, Britain's Cathedrals, Britain's Churches, Castles, Kings and Queens of Britain, Early Suspension Bridges, King's Covered Bridge, Wheeling Suspension Bridge, Haruzau Ohashi, Mikhail Mikeshin, Fellowship at Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at University of Edinburgh, Engineering Medieval Cathedrals, Engineering Torsion, Concrete Knee Joints, Suspension Bridges, First Aeroplanes [airplanes], Wright Brothers, Civil War, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)

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Series 8. Addendum of 2021/04/05
1768-2014
Scope and Contents

This addendum contains materials Kemp collected, worked on, and produced, which date between 1768-2014. Items of interest include materials on early oil drilling and Kemp's trip to Canada, Fairbank Oil and the Canadian Oil Museum; materials on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, suspension bridges in France, the United Kingdom and the United States; mixed materials from his work on West Virginia covered bridges; paper on "Marc Seguin and the origins of the Modern Long Span Wire Suspension Bridge"; old postcards of United States and French suspension bridges and of West Virginia covered bridges; materials about King's Covered Bridge; the Wheeling Suspension Bridge and Independence Hall; an engineering paper on covered bridge restoration; mixed materials on the restoration of both Philippi and Barrackville Covered Bridges; materials from chapters of Kemp's book Essays on the History of Transportation and Technology ; original documents and drawings from Bull Creek Bridge ca. 1855; a Mason-Dixon Line Map facsimile ca. 1768; The General Advertiser (Philadelphia) May 6, 1797. Also includes photos of West Virginia locks and dams, West Virginia covered bridges, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stations/roundhouses, early West Virginia oil wells, old farm buildings, locks and dams, suspension bridges, etc.

Formats include: Photographic prints, photographic negatives, papers, drawings, newspaper, journals, postcards, facsimiles (including photocopies of originals), CDs, maps.

Subjects include: Canada, Fairbank Oil, Canadian Oil Museum, West Virginia, United Kingdom, Britain, France, Kings and Queens of Britain, Early Suspension Bridges, King's Covered Bridge, Wheeling Suspension Bridge, Wheeling Independence Hall, Wheeling Customs House, early oil drilling, early industry, West Virginia early oil drilling, Baltimore and Ohio railroad, railroad station, roundhouse, French suspension bridges, West Virginia suspension bridges, United States suspension bridges, covered bridges, West Virginia covered bridges, Philippi, Barrackville, King's, locks and dams, old postcards, West Virginia postcards, covered bridge restoration, Essays on the History of Transportation and Technology, Mason-Dixon Line, General Advertiser, Bull Creek, farm buildings

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Series 9. Addendum of 2020, Engineering drawings, maps, other miscellaneous
1909-2003
Scope and Contents

Includes mostly engineering drawings, such as schematics, blueprints, floorplans, and maps for a variety of engineering projects throughout West Virginia and Maryland. These materials are from a variety of architects and engineers, most often Paul D. Marshall and Associates, but all pertain to projects involving Emory L. Kemp or the IHTIA. Also includes a poster titled "the Bridge at St.Louis" and a panoramic photograph of Alderson Bridge in Alderson, WV

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