• PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 month ago

      Insulation and decoration. Getting anything else would have been an expense they couldn’t afford - Appalachia was (and, for that matter, still is) one of the poorest regions of the USA.

      • JohnnyEnzyme
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        27 days ago

        Insulation and decoration.

        Pardon the late reply, but what would the walls themselves be made of? They almost look like layered cardboard there. Or maybe sheet metal.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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          27 days ago

          Cardboard as a kind of drywall was sometimes used under the papers, but wood for the structure itself.

    • randompasta@lemmy.today
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      1 month ago

      It was used for insulation. I once went to the filming location for The Hunger Games where Katniss was supposed to live. The location is in North Carolina. The houses are an abandoned mill town and still standing. Many of the houses had similar interiors, but a lot of the newspaper has been torn down over the years.

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
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    1 month ago

    Youngsters lap up a surplus-commodity supper of pan-fried biscuits, gravy and potatoes at the Odell Smiths of Friday Branch Creek. The newspapers were pasted by Mrs. Smith in an effort to keep the place neat." John Dominis — Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

    Add the photographer. They were the one actually doing something.