Michigan Memories: How did you decorate your University of Michigan dorm room?

By Kellie Woodhouse Higher education reporter

Posted on Sat, Feb 4, 2012 : 5:58 a.m.

Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com

Remember your dorm room?

Was it crammed with junk? What kind of posters did you put on the wall? Family pictures? Did you keep it messy or clean?

With nearly $500 million in renovations going into University of Michigan dormitories over the course of seven years, college residence halls are slowly taking on a rather sophisticated, grand look.

But when you go into the student rooms, you find that students still decorate largely the same: With posters, pictures and other knickknacks that remind them of home, family and friends.

AnnArbor.com thought we'd take the opportunity to see how students decorated their rooms over time. We found images dating back to the 1800s. We have to say, we like their style.

Off-campus student housing between 1890 and 1910.

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

Two U-M students in an off-campus dorm room sometime between 1890 and 1910.

University of Michigan students in an apartment in 1902.

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

A group of U-M students in student housing at 517 Washington Street in Ann Arbor in the spring of 1902.

Two University of Michigan students in a dorm room circa 1940.

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

Two U-M students in their West Quadrangle dorm room in the 1940s. The Thompson Street dorm, built in 1939, was the second all-male residence hall at U-M and became co-ed 30 years later.