Growing up in the 60s, we would occasionally see the trope of a person who was so broke and possessionless that all they had to wear was a barrel. Where did that come from, and is there any historical or realistic basis for it?

Here are past answers & discussions on the topic:

Ask followup questions by commenting with /u/ appended to a flaired specialist's username i.e. /u/OldWorldGlory.

Key

M&SC = Methodological & Source Criticism
c = comments
dy = days old
wk = weeks old
mo = months old
yr = years old