Browse Items (216 total)

Converse Hall residents congregate in the hall in the mid-1990s. Halls like these are intermediary space in dormitories; they are public, but many students treat them as extensions of dorm room space for that particular floor rather than…

The completed Spotswood Hall stands behind several young ladies with their parasols. The image also shows the boardwalk that ran through the area and between buildings.

This image shows the early stages of construction on “Dormitory No. 3,” or Spotswood Hall.

This photograph of the parlor depicts the formal nature of the space. Matching furniture is arranged symmetrically in this public space. Images of dorm rooms from the same time period show much less uniformity in their spatial layout. This further…

Parlors are ways of structuring the space inside a building to channel visitors in a certain way, rather than opening directly into living space. The Senior Hall parlor, inside of what is today Cleveland, was a formalized space with its own set of…

The residents of this room have decorated with vases, a pennant, and a lamp styled like a parasol which echoes earlier images of Normal School students on the Quad. Personal items like photographs, jewelry, and perfume sit on top of the dresser scarf…

Eloise Lohr, left, and Ann Hearl, right, straighten up a dormitory room. What could possibly be a small sewing kit sits on the windowsill. Students were urged to keep their rooms tidy as stated in a freshmen advice booklet: “Keep your room neat!…

Students relaxing and reading in a dorm room. LIFE Magazine, a radio, a glass bottle of soda, and a pennant between the windows all combine to create an image of a happy dorm room environment. Many Madison students wrote to enlisted servicemen during…

The transition to dormitories with individual cooking areas placed great trust in residential students. At first, students would be served meals in a dining hall. Later, dormitories each had kitchenettes on their floors for communal use. Things like…

These students have matching bedspreads and pillows, which can be seen occasionally in historic dormitory photographs. The window sill is decorated with photographs, a yearbook, small porcelain figurines, a lamp, and shells. They have also included…