George F. Cresap Watchmaking Student's Notebook, 1947, 1973.

The George F. Cresap Watchmaking Student's Notebook is a three-hole binder containing both typewritten and manuscript documents from George F. Cresap's time as a watchmaking student at the Houston School of Horology in 1947. These documents consist mainly of test questions and answers, class notes, and technical hand-outs, all of which treat watchmaking theory and aspects of repair work. A set of forms record watchmaking work Cresap did for clients under the supervision of his instructors. Also included is a letter from Bulova in 1973 with Cresap's test results for formal certification as a Bulova Accutron technician.

George Ferguson Cresap was born on January 28, 1922 in Cumberland, Maryland as one of four children to Frank Brown Cresap and Nina Ferguson. He graduated from Allegany High School in 1941 and worked for a brief time at the Celanese Corporation, a technology and specialty materials company. In November 1942 he entered the Navy and served as a pharmacist's mate first class on the USS LSM-374 in the Pacific and European theaters. Upon his return he resumed working at the Celanese Corporation. In 1947 he was a watchmaking student at the Houston School of Horology and he graduated in 1948. In 1951 he married Marion Ellen Umstot in Frederick, Maryland, where the couple would remain for the rest of their lives and where Cresap would become well-known as a local watchmaker. Cresap was employed at Fort Detrick from 1950 until 1973 and with the Department of Energy, Germantown, from 1973 until he retired in August 1980. Cresap was a member of the American Watchmakers Institute (AWI, today the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute, AWCI) and in 1973 became a Bulova Accutron Certified Technician. He passed away on July 23, 1981 after a lengthy illness. He was survived by his wife Marion and children Larry T. Cresap, Mark U. Cresap, and Janine C. Woodward.

Houston School of Horology, later Houston Technical College, was a watchmaking school in Houston, Texas. In 1947 the School of Horology was accepting students under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 to train servicemen returning from the Second World War. Houston Technical College closed sometime between 1995 and 2000 at a time when the number of watchmaking schools in the United States was in steep decline.

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the handwritten workbook of one George Cresap student at Houston School of Horology 1947hOUSTON scHOOL OF Horology