In a message dated 4/3/2000 2:55:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

>  it appeared to be about as dense as
>  plasterboard but not as white, and not as thick, but thicker than
>  masonite.  If I remember correctly, it had a paper back printed with
>  a beaver.

For Derek, who is left his 20th Century Building materials book on his
nightstand:

Beaver board was a fiber board produced by the Beaver Board Co. of Beaver
Falls and later Buffalo, NY, the most prolific company in generating patents
for fiberboard production in the early 20th century. It began producing wall
board in 1907, which was made from processed and water-softened wood pulp,
pressed and consolidated with various adhesives and bonding agents --
silicate of soda, flour paste, various glues, destrin, and asphalt, or a
mixture of water-glass (don't know what this is) and clay.

Other companies used different kinds of fibers to produce wall board.
Homasote was made from re-pulped newsprint (1916). Celotex made the first
board from bagasse (sugar cane waste) in 1920. The Mason Fiber Company first
produced Masonite (a higher density product with greater strength) in 1926.
The housing shortages of the 1930s and the post WWII period, as well as the
wartime demand for temporary buildings supported the explosive growth of the
fiberboard industry.

(Whew! Thanks, Derek. I needed that.)

Mary (has walls of postwar Beaver Board) Julep