Incredible old photos show how students decorated their dorm rooms, 1890-1950

These images, taken between the 20th century and the 1950s, show how student housing has changed in America over the past hundred or so years.

Students used a vivid combination of vintage decorations, collegiate pennants, high school diplomas, family pictures and advertisements to decorate their walls.

Why is campus living so prevalent in the United States, and how do residence hall designs reflect American educational and social ideals? Carla Yani addresses these questions in Living on Campus, a history of structures built to house students on American campuses.

The architecture of the hostel, he argues, "provides a lens through which the socially constructed nature of the student can be examined".

Examining the design of residence halls reveals how Americans have sought these spaces to uphold values ​​about the "segregation of race, social classes and gender" held by beneficiaries, administrators, architects, students, and society at large. Planned.

Additionally, she examines how attitudes about domesticity, community, and student life are manifested in the residence hall plans.

The monasteries and monasteries served as models for the hostel and the campus itself. Away from a dangerous medieval world, they provided protection for contemplation and worship, as well as served as a place where learning, art, music, gardening and other cultural activities could flourish.

Equally important, the residential colleges of Oxford and Cambridge also served as models for Harvard, Yale, and other American colleges that came later.

In adapting medieval design to the needs of the students, college teachers and designers struggled to reconcile the need for security, order, and peace against the need for open spaces for the wider community.

The professor explains that a popular hostel scheme, the "double-loaded" corridor, provides for rooms on either side of a very long hallway.

This design, requiring only two stairs at either end of the aisle, was relatively inexpensive to manufacture; It also facilitated a higher level of security as it was easier to see who was coming or going.

But for the students, the double-loaded corridor had all the charm of a cellblock. The expensive Oxbridge option, with the provision of stairs throughout the building, increased access at the expense of safety. Both designs, with modifications, are in use today.

The term "dorm" is often used in America. However, within the residence life community, the official term "residence hall" is preferred.

According to the University of Oregon, their facilities "provide not only a place to sleep, but also opportunities for personal and educational growth. Highly trained Residence Life staff and hall government officials help to achieve this by creating engaging activities and programs in each hall or campus." support the purpose.

In the UK, the preferred term in reference to student accommodation is "hall", which is short for "hall of residence". In English-speaking Canada, the common term is "dwelling" or "race" for short.

The terms "hall of residence" and "hall" are common in Australia, but "college" (or, more formally, "residential college") is also used in cases of halls of residence that are designated as such. (for example Robert Menzies College, Trinity College, and Mannix College); Residential colleges generally have a Christian ethos.