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Color photograph shows open kitchen cupboard with four shelves containing various spices on bottom three shelves and glass dishes on the top shelf. The cabinets and walls are white.
Kitchen spice pantry at the Joseph D. Oliver House, also known as Copshaholm, in South Bend, Indiana. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2016. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.41363

Everything Including the Kitchen Sink

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Many of us spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen, a space that can serve both a utilitarian and a social function. The Prints & Photographs Division collections provide great images of kitchen spaces that highlight prepared food, architectural elements, and the labor that goes into ensuring our nourishment.

The photograph below shows Mrs. Cooper at her farm near Radcliffe, Iowa, preparing to put some rolls in the oven. The photo was taken as part of a LOOK Magazine photograph assignment about the Cooper family’s life on their farm. Many jars filled with fruits and vegetables are visible on the kitchen table and countertops.

Color photograph shows woman wearing red and white checked gingham dress holding tray of unbaked rolls, evidently preparing to place it in the open oven in the background. In the foreground, a table covered with jars of vegetables and fruits is visible along with fresh tomatoes, baked bread, and more trays of unbaked rolls.
Mrs. Willis Cooper baking and canning in the kitchen of her farmhouse near Radcliffe, Iowa. Photo by Jim Hansen, September 9, 1957. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.19727

Photographer Carol M. Highsmith captured this eye-catching view of a kitchen cabinet featuring decades-old spice jars (charcoal seasoning salt, anyone?) in the historical Joseph D. Oliver House in South Bend, Indiana.

Color photograph shows open kitchen cupboard with four shelves containing various spices on bottom three shelves and glass dishes on the top shelf. The cabinets and walls are white.
Kitchen spice pantry at the Joseph D. Oliver House, also known as Copshaholm, in South Bend, Indiana. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, 2016. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.41363

As usual, the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Collection is a fantastic source for scenes of home life in the United States during the Great Depression and World War II. The person in the photograph below appears to be preparing food on a table adjacent to kitchen shelving that is built into the end of a trailer, making ingenious use of space at a migrant camp in Harlingen, Texas.

Woman stands above table next to trailer outfitted with kitchen shelving containing pans, cups, salt and other supplies. She appears to be sifting flour. Shrubbery is visible behind her and the trailer. The trailer has clothing draped over the sides.
Two-wheeled trailer with kitchen cabinet fitted on the end. This is copied from the old chuck wagons. Harlingen, Texas migrant camp. Photo by Russell Lee, February 1939. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a25195

The caption for this image indicates that Mrs. Heath and her daughter, Ann, are thrilled with the clean and spacious kitchen in their defense housing unit, having previously lived in a “single furnished room.”

Woman and little girl stand in front of kitchen sink washing dishes, with their backs to the camera. A stove top is visible at left and shelving with glasses, cups, plates, and cleaning supplies is visible above the sink.
Bantam, Connecticut. Defense homes. Little Ann Heath is eager to try out all the facilities of her parents’ new four-room defense housing unit, after spending most of her life in a single furnished room. Here she pushes her footstool to the sink in order to help her mother clean up the dinner dishes. Mrs. Heath, a native of Winsted, a city some twenty-five miles away, is delighted with her new kitchen–the first she’s ever had which she actually considers as a kitchen, and is trying out all the recipes she has collected in five years of married life. The Heaths pay thirty dollars monthly for their apartment. Photo by Howard R. Hollem, January 1942. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8e10821

While it is not clear how she feels about her kitchen in a new Farm Security Administration trailer camp, the woman in this photograph seems very pleased with the adorable cat she’s holding.

Woman stands holding a cat in narrow trailer kitchen, with cupboards and dishware visible at left. Behind her, trees and other housing are visible through the screen door.
Untitled photo, possibly related to: Arlington, Virginia. FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp project for Negroes. Interior of expansible trailer, showing kitchen equipment. Photo by Marjory Collins, April 1942. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c34610

We see kitchens represented in graphic formats as well. This mid-19th century woodcut by Utagawa Yoshikazu depicts a foreign settlement house kitchen in Yokohama. The bustling scene shows people preparing, and waiting for, food in the foreground. Unrelated to the scene in the kitchen, we see a man getting a shave in an adjacent room.

Japanese print shows a kitchen where food is being prepared and of adjoining rooms, in one room a man is getting a shave, in a foreign settlement house in Yokohama, Japan.
Yokohama ijin yashiki no zu / Foreign settlement house in Yokohama. Woodcut by Utagawa Yoshikazu. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g10604

This kitchen-themed color lithograph was used for educational purposes in the late 19th century. An accompanying manual listed objects for young students to identify in the image, including food items, dishes, and even the clock. Much has changed in the intervening years, but I’m sure you can identify many objects that we continue to use in our kitchens today!

Color lithographic print shows woman working with rolling pin at table at left. An open pantry door reveals shelves containing glassware and other dishes. At center an old-fashioned cast iron stove holds several cast iron pots. A clock is visible on the wall at right, above a shelf and sink.
Prang’s aids for object teaching–The kitchen. Lithograph by L. Prang & Co., copyright date 1874. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.04045

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Comments

  1. Terrific cross section of images, sweeping through time and space. Thank you! Carl

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