A Kid in the Kitchen

(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Eldon Harms family.

Handwritten notes on the back of the original identify this kid only as: "The little Goat. 1930."

Whose little goat? and why was it so special that it was allowed in the kitchen? — We don't know.

The photo comes from a group dominated by Lester Harms, his wife Sue Prochno White Harms, his parents and extended family. This leads me to think that the scene is on either the Harms farm on Cleveland Avenue, or the Prochno farm on Colorado Street.

I like the homey details you can see in the background if you enlarge the image: the plain spindle-back chair, the plastic- or oilcloth-covered table, and the lidded bucket or cast-iron pot atop it. But I am mystified by the appliance at the far left. Here I have fiddled with the light values to try to bring it out more:



In a farm kitchen in 1930, you'd expect to see a stove, cupboards, a sink, and maybe an icebox. I'm trying to see one of those things in this image. Is that bright vertical line caused by a convex central panel reflecting light from the back window? Or is it a shiny metal handle down the side? I suppose we could be looking at an oven door, but I've never seen one with those rivet-like dots around the central panel.