Greased paper window

{{Short description|Window made of paper coated with grease}}

File:Greased paper window schoolhouse.jpg, with a greased-paper window]]

A greased paper window is a very inexpensive window made of paper coated in grease. The grease fills gaps between the paper fibers, reducing the amount of light lost to scattering. Greased paper windows provide a diffuse light source, while blocking wind and preventing insects and other small animals from entering a structure.

Greased paper windows were often used by American pioneers of the early 1800s{{cite book|title=History of Warrick, Spencer and Perry Counties, Indiana, From the Earliest Time to the Present; Together with Interesting Biographical Sketches, Reminiscences, Notes, Etc.|date=1885|publisher=Goodspeed, Bros. & Co.|chapter=History of Spencer County|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofwarrick00chic/page/410 410]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofwarrick00chic|accessdate=17 August 2016}} and other itinerant peoples, in lieu of relatively expensive traditional glass windows.{{cite web|last1=Goodwin|first1=Jane|title=Little House Science: Greased Paper Windows|url=https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/2014/07/01/little-house-science-greased-paper-windows/|website=Steve Spangler Science|accessdate=17 August 2016|date=July 1, 2014}} Laura Ingalls Wilder recalled living in a home with a greased paper window in her 1937 children's novel, On the Banks of Plum Creek.{{cite book|last1=Wilder|first1=Laura Ingalls|author-link=Laura Ingalls Wilder|title=On the Banks of Plum Creek|date=October 20, 1937|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=9780064400046|page=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yzA8aY9aksIC|accessdate=17 August 2016|quote="There was a small greased-paper window beside the door. But the wall was so thick that the light from the window stayed near the window."}}