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Coeds, Close-Up.

I love these photos, taken by Bill Ray for LIFE Magazine, which depict the goings-on in a coed dorm at Oberlin College in 1970. The school had instituted coed living just two years prior, and the "experiment" garnered mixed reactions. Some were uncomfortable with the change; others celebrated its upsides - one student reported that he was now “taking [his women classmates] more for granted as people, something I’d never done before.”

A few of these shots - the one of students playing music in the hallway, in particular - look like they could have been taken during my time at UC Santa Cruz, where I shared a dorm - bathrooms and all - with boys my freshman year.


See more at LIFE, here. Photographs by Bill Ray for LIFE Magazine. 

16 comments:

  1. Didn't realize you were a UCSC alum - me too! 2009 : ) Love your blog

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  2. Didn't know you were a UCSC alum, me too! Class of 2009. Love your blog : )

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  3. Oh, dorm life... totally could've been my freshman dorm, too. Except, I never, ever, ever, saw anyone (guys or gals) ironing... doing laundry was a big enough feat.

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  4. I'd say model apartment living is the closest I've gotten to that kind of experience, but co-ed apartments were always so much more fun! I remember one time having a catwalk party in the living room while some of the guys attempted to DJ :)
    Innominategirl.com

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  5. During my first semester away at school, I lived in the third dorm room on the right hand side of a hallway. Every other room on that end of the hall, both sides, was boys. Each room had its own bathroom, though (perk of going to a private college).

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  6. I work at a university so these photos are pretty rad for me to see way back. Our uni, UCLA, was the first ever to institute coed dorms. Found you on Cup of Jo & I am so happy I did. Love your photographs. I am an (very) amateur photographer in my spare time.

    Carmen

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  7. I got so nostalgic looking at these photos (even though UCSD dorm living looked nothing like this). Thanks for the walk down memory lane :-) I miss college, now.

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  8. These make me so nostalgic for college!! Love!

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  9. these are awesome!

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  10. aww, as someone who did not dorm for college, i am so fascinated by these little glimpses of dorm life. really fascinating! i love the eating on the floor picture!

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  11. Linz, thank you so much! Slugs 4 life :)

    Auste, haha, I guess I never saw an iron, either!

    Sea of Love, sounds so fun.

    Carmen, thank you! I can't take credit for many of the photos, but I'm so glad you like the blog!

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  12. Just love those photographs, everything looks so communal!

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  13. I never lived on campus during college (staying in your home city for college negates the reason to live on campus, and my best friend and I opted to get an apartment of our own...oh the stories we have from that apartment!) but photos like this make me nostalgic for something I never had, if that makes sense. xo

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  14. Erin, totally makes sense. But your experience sounds awesome, too!

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