{"id":11505,"date":"2025-06-27T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=11505"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:44:58","slug":"herkie-the-pup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=11505","title":{"rendered":"Herkie the Pup!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post was written by Vivien Trent, SCRC Research services student assistant. Vivien is <\/em>a Graduate student pursuing her MA in English, with a concentration in Professional and Technical Writing (PTW).<\/p>\n

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Charles Baptie, photographer for Capital Airlines and various books\/publications, took many pictures of important people during his lifetime. World leaders, well-known public figures, and, interestingly enough, puppies. Like many other collections housed in SCRC, the Charles Baptie Photograph Collection (C0032) is filled with furry friends. When Baptie wasn\u2019t off photographing the Fairfax area, airlines, or restaurants, he was at his home studio taking pictures of clients. One such client was \u201cHerkie\u201d the cocker spaniel.<\/p>\n

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Herkie, likely short for Hercules, was supposedly Baptie\u2019s dog or a dog that belonged to one of his photo clients. Whomever he truly belonged to, Baptie was clearly enamored: this puppy has folder upon folder dedicated to him in Box 24. Dated sometime in the late 1940s and early 1950s, these photoshoots range from Herkie\u2019s bathtime to pictures of him with toddlers and birds. Throughout these photos, Herkie remains a good sport, helping to spell his name in blocks and even playing the drums.<\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

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The bathtime photos (pictured below) were used in multiple publications, including books and an Arlington Animal Welfare League advertisement. The 1957 book, Camera on Assignment, written by Baptie and \u201cOllie\u201d Atkins (better known in our archives as Oliver Atkins), depicts a range of subjects. This includes the effects of war, Washington D.C., and of course, \u201cAnimal Personalities.\u201d Herkie appears twice here in a progression of bathtime photos, the first captioned \u201cIt\u2019s rough going now\u2026\u201d and the next continuing on to \u201c…but it was worth it!\u201d (found in Box 20) .<\/p>\n

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\"\".\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

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As an honorable mention, Shar Khan, the Siamese cat, is depicted on the following page, enjoying a nap on top of a warm television.<\/p>\n

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Herkie also has his own short story, though it remains an unpublished draft in our collection. \u201cHerkie, the Pup,\u201d supposedly written by Herkie himself (but of course, written by Baptie), details his life in his owner\u2019s household. The puppy happily admits that he \u201cliked having his picture taken\u201d because he could \u201cmake funny faces and do funny things.\u201d According to \u201cHerkie,\u201d he used the typewriter while Baptie was away to write this story.<\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\". \"\"<\/p>\n

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But not all of Herkie\u2019s story is happy. In 1946 the 3-month-old puppy ran away from home, leaving his 7-year-old \u201cmaster\u201d Dicky Townsend and other neighborhood children devastated without their \u201cpuppy pal.\u201d Although this newspaper clipping doesn\u2019t tell us how the story ends, we can assume from later pictures of Herkie as an adult, including the below photo of him with a pet parrot, that he made it back safe and sound. All\u2019s well that ends well!<\/p>\n

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Follow SCRC on Social Media and look out for future posts on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0accounts. To search the collections\u00a0held at Special Collections Research Center, go to our\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and browse the finding aids by subject or title. You may also e-mail\u00a0us at\u00a0speccoll@gmu.edu<\/a>\u00a0or call 703-993-2220 if you would like to schedule an appointment, request materials, or if you have questions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog post was written by Vivien Trent, SCRC Research services student assistant. Vivien is a Graduate student pursuing her MA in English, with a concentration in Professional and Technical Writing (PTW).   Charles Baptie, photographer for Capital Airlines and various books\/publications, took many pictures of important people during his lifetime. World leaders, well-known public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101025,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-2Zz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7414,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=7414","url_meta":{"origin":11505,"position":0},"title":"Mahogani Harper: My Experience as a Student Assistant at Special Collection","author":"admin","date":"April 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Working at the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) as a student assistant has been a unique and enjoyable experience. 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