Emory Kemp

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Emory Kemp greets Samuel Richardson, an AmeriCorps Member with the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, as Sam continues to diligently preserve Kemp's large collection of photos, pamphlets, drawings, notes, and designs.
Emory Kemp
Personal details
Born
Emory Leland Kemp

1 October 1931
Chicago, Illinois
Died20 January 2020
Residence(s)Morgantown, West Virginia

Emory Leland Kemp was the founder and director of the Institute for the History of Technology and

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.[1] Until his death, he served as Professor Emeritus for the Department of History at West Virginia University.[2]

Kemp served as President of the Public Works Historical Society. He presented and published many works on industrial archaeology, engineering, the history of technology, and structural mechanics. Many of his public works can be found in journals such as

IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology, Public Historian, Essays in Public Works History, Public Works Magazine, and Canal History and Technology Proceedings.[1]

Career

Consulting

Kemp's consulting career began at Ove Arup, a global firm. There, he conducted analytical calculations for the roof of the Sydney Opera House in Australia, noting this was no simple task, as Jørn Utzon's sketches were designed to embellish the beauty of the international landmark, not necessarily for simple mathematics.[3]

Kemp continued to offer consulting work throughout his career as a Professor at West Virginia University. His work included many projects, including the restoration of the Philippi Covered Bridge.[4]

He was a project coordinator for the move and restoration of the Staats Mill Covered Bridge.

Publications

Kemp had a long list of publications in civil engineering, specifically suspension bridges, wrought iron, mills, canals, and the history of these subjects, and as a result paved the way for the "new interdisciplinary field" known as industrial archaeology.[5]

Kemp was the author of the text Essays on the History of Transportation and Technology.[6]

Kemp was the co-author of the text Houses and Homes: Exploring Their History, along with Barbara Howe. The text covers American housing patterns, the individual characteristics of houses in different regions, construction techniques and materials, household technology, and family lifestyles.[7]

Emory contributed authorship to the West Virginia Encyclopedia. He wrote articles on

Fairmont High Level Bridge,[11] Frank Duff McEnteer,[12] swinging bridges,[13] the Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpike,[14] and the Wheeling Suspension Bridge[15]

Awards

Upon graduation from the University of Illinois in civil engineering, Kemp received the Ira O. Baker for outstanding achievement.[3]

Kemp received numerous awards, including the coveted election as an Honorary Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. This is the highest award given by the Society of 140,000 members.[1]

In 1986, Kemp received the Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, the University of Illinois Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Association.[16]

The Society for Industrial Archeology awarded Kemp the 1993 SIA General Tools Award for Distinguished Service to Industrial Archeology.[17]

Kemp had an award created in his honor, by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, an organization which he is a co-founder of. The award is the Dr. Emory Kemp Lifetime Achievement Award.[18]

Personal life

Emory Leland Kemp was born in Chicago on Thursday, October 1, 1931 at 4:10 p.m. in Jackson Park (Chicago) Hospital.

In between the building and another building where Kemp lived at age four, was a large play area, and there was an apartment down a big flight of concrete stairs and "I'm not sure how I did this, but I succeeded in backing my tricycle down these stairs. And, I was picked up by one of the neighbors, it was—and I still remember this—and he came out the back stairs of our apartment, knocked on the door, and my mother opened the door, and he said, 'I don't think he'll live.' That was that and I'm still here!"[19]

"In October of 1935 I had been going, first of all to the

Methodist
, and in a sense took vows of never to be involved in alcohol, tobacco, and to become a Methodist, which I have been throughout the rest of my life."

Kemp became an

Eagle Scout with three palms.[19]

While Kemp was working with Colonel Hudson in the Army, "I'm not sure how he did it, but my whole company was sent to Korea, except for me, and I got a special order." Emory was requested to go to the

differential equations course at George Washington University in full uniform with a bayonet! Um, I don't think you could do that today—I was ready."[19]

Emory Kemp was married with three adult children and lived in Morgantown, West Virginia.[1] He died at the J. W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, on January 20, 2020.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Emory L. Kemp". Civil and Environmental Engineering. West Virginia University. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Faculty Emeriti". West Virginia University Department of History. Archived from the original on 14 February 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Dr. Emory L. Kemp". Archived from the original on 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  4. ^ "Philippi Covered Bridge". transportation.wv.gov. West Virginia Department of Transportation. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  5. JSTOR 29764055
    .
  6. ISBN 9781940425030
    . Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  7. ISBN 978-0761989295
    .
  8. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Bridges". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  9. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Cable-Stayed Bridges". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  10. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Claudis Crozet". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  11. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Fairmont High Level Bridge". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  12. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Frank Duff McEnteer". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  13. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Swinging Bridges". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  14. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Weston & Gauley Bridge Turnpike". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  15. ^ Kemp, Emory. "Wheeling Suspension Bridge". The West Virginia Encyclopedia. West Virginia Humanities Council. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  16. ^ "IU CEE AA Previous Winners by Year". University of Illinois. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  17. ^ "22nd Annual Business Meeting June 5, 1993, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" (PDF). Society for Industrial Archeology Newsletter. Vol. 22, no. 3. Society for Industrial Archeology. Fall 1993. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  18. ^ Shapiro, Kelli. "PAWV PROJECT HONORS DR. EMORY KEMP". pawv.org. Preservation Alliance of West Virginia. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  19. ^ a b c Klein, Mercy; Stasick, Lynn (24 August 2017). Oral History of Dr. Kemp. West Virginia and Regional History Center: Preservation Alliance of West Virginia.
  20. ^ "Emory Kemp". The Dominion Post. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.

External links

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