> Were people uglier back then?

I think in the same way then as now, media is selective in amplifying certain ideas of human asthetics. There are millions of similarly poor, hard-working people now who don't spend a lot of time tweaking their image. These people are not in your Insta feed either.

(But I think this specific set of photographs sought out a more unbiased view of whomever was working in these areas, and I can see why people were and are furious about the casual destruction of these records!)