As far as the gaps, movement of 1/16" or so is probably a natural event caused by changes in the humidity level of your house. Wood expands and contracts with these changes and mostly across the width of a board. If you "fill in" the gap, the wood will still expand and either crush the wood fibers or push out the filler. A tongue and groove joint on the edges of the board allow the movement to take place with a minimum of problems.
If you have much wider gaps, you may have a poorly laid floor or you might really be looking at a subfloor. Subfloors of that era were laid of cheaper wood and with wider gaps and may have been laid diagonally. Where you live and how "upper class" your house is may offer some clues to original construction. Also, your floor may have been refinished previously. Floors only have so much wood for this and 25-40 is a normal span between refinishings. You might be able to refinish a total of twice before there is not enough wood left to refinish but this depends on many factors also.
As far as tin ceilings, information and supplies are available in home improvement and restoration magazines and on the web.
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