Mike and anyone else interested in newspapers on walls.....

Covering the interior walls of dwellings, log or otherwise, is a very
common 'folk' practice in evidence not only in 'Appalachia,' but
throughout the American South, and also documented here in Ireland.
Regarding the practice in the southern mountains, I have accounts for
the Virginia Blue Ridge in which newspapers (and calendars and
magazines) were changed on a regular basis, and used as a means of
teaching reading as well as for decorative purposes. The paper also
served as added insulation, covering any gaps in the chinking on log
buildings. For your study area in particular, Michael Ann Williams PhD
may be of use -- also, an article of hers from 1987, Appalachian
Journal, includes a photograph from the Great Smoky N.P. collections
showing a papered home -underscoring the likely prevalence of the custom
locally. Trawling through Appalachian Journal and the Journal of
Appalachian Studies no doubt would net you more references, but why not
approach the practice via oral history?  Given that your walls were
papered in the 1940s, there are likely still locals who recall the
practice, and would provide a more informative, emic perspective that
anything you could find filtered through the descriptions of the myriad
'outsiders' who felt compelled to document living conditions and
so-called folk traditions in the southern uplands from the 1870s through
the first half of the 20th century -- unless you choose to interpret
your building as it was perceived by such outsiders in contrast to the
perceptions of the inhabitants.
Sounds like an interesting paper, I look forward to hearing it in
Mobile.

Audrey Horning