diff --git a/lib/models/room-state.js b/lib/models/room-state.js
index 61d4ea89a..12d3f9251 100644
--- a/lib/models/room-state.js
+++ b/lib/models/room-state.js
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ function RoomState(roomId) {
         // eventType: { stateKey: MatrixEvent }
     };
     this.paginationToken = null;
+
+    this._sentinels = {
+        // userId: RoomMember
+    };
 }
 utils.inherits(RoomState, EventEmitter);
 
@@ -46,6 +50,19 @@ RoomState.prototype.getMember = function(userId) {
     return this.members[userId] || null;
 };
 
+/**
+ * Get a room member whose properties will not change with this room state. You
+ * typically want this if you want to attach a RoomMember to a MatrixEvent which
+ * may no longer be represented correctly by Room.currentState or Room.oldState.
+ * The term 'sentinel' refers to the fact that this RoomMember is an unchanging
+ * guardian for state at this particular point in time.
+ * @param {string} userId The room member's user ID.
+ * @return {RoomMember} The member or null if they do not exist.
+ */
+RoomState.prototype.getSentinelMember = function(userId) {
+    return this._sentinels[userId] || null;
+};
+
 /**
  * Get state events from the state of the room.
  * @param {string} eventType The event type of the state event.
@@ -89,19 +106,29 @@ RoomState.prototype.setStateEvents = function(stateEvents) {
         self.emit("RoomState.events", event, self);
 
         if (event.getType() === "m.room.member") {
-            // we *always* need to create a new RoomMember because there may be
-            // MatrixEvents with their .sender property set to a RoomMember which
-            // was right for that point in time. We are now diverging from that
-            // point so in order to not corrupt the existing messages we need to
-            // make a new RoomMember.
-            var member = new RoomMember(event.getRoomId(), event.getStateKey());
-            member.setMembershipEvent(event, self);
-            // this member may have a power level already, so set it.
-            var pwrLvlEvent = self.getStateEvents("m.room.power_levels", "");
-            if (pwrLvlEvent) {
-                member.setPowerLevelEvent(pwrLvlEvent);
+            var userId = event.getStateKey();
+            var member = self.members[userId];
+            if (!member) {
+                member = new RoomMember(event.getRoomId(), userId);
+                self.emit("RoomState.newMember", event, self, member);
             }
-            self.members[event.getStateKey()] = member;
+            // Add a new sentinel for this change. We apply the same
+            // operations to both sentinel and member rather than deep copying
+            // so we don't make assumptions about the properties of RoomMember
+            // (e.g. and manage to break it because deep copying doesn't do
+            // everything).
+            var sentinel = new RoomMember(event.getRoomId(), userId);
+            utils.forEach([member, sentinel], function(roomMember) {
+                roomMember.setMembershipEvent(event, self);
+                // this member may have a power level already, so set it.
+                var pwrLvlEvent = self.getStateEvents("m.room.power_levels", "");
+                if (pwrLvlEvent) {
+                    roomMember.setPowerLevelEvent(pwrLvlEvent);
+                }
+            });
+
+            self._sentinels[userId] = sentinel;
+            self.members[userId] = member;
             self.emit("RoomState.members", event, self, member);
         }
         else if (event.getType() === "m.room.power_levels") {
diff --git a/lib/models/room.js b/lib/models/room.js
index de007b066..e331c69bd 100644
--- a/lib/models/room.js
+++ b/lib/models/room.js
@@ -68,11 +68,15 @@ Room.prototype.addEventsToTimeline = function(events, toStartOfTimeline) {
     var stateContext = toStartOfTimeline ? this.oldState : this.currentState;
     for (var i = 0; i < events.length; i++) {
         // set sender and target properties
-        events[i].sender = stateContext.getMember(events[i].getSender());
+        events[i].sender = stateContext.getSentinelMember(
+            events[i].getSender()
+        );
         if (events[i].getType() === "m.room.member") {
-            events[i].target = stateContext.getMember(events[i].getStateKey());
+            events[i].target = stateContext.getSentinelMember(
+                events[i].getStateKey()
+            );
         }
-        
+
         // modify state
         if (events[i].isState()) {
             // room state has no concept of 'old' or 'current', but we want the
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index e3f996016..2f35a8398 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -159,7 +159,22 @@ module.exports.checkObjectHasNoAdditionalKeys = function(obj, allowedKeys) {
 };
 
 /**
- * Deep copy the given object. The object MUST NOT have circular references.
+ * Assigns all the properties in src to dst. If these properties are Objects,
+ * then both src and dst will refer to the same thing.
+ * @param {Object} src The object to copy properties from.
+ * @param {Object} dst The object to write properties to.
+ */
+module.exports.shallowCopy = function(src, dst) {
+    for (var i in src) {
+        if (src.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
+            dst[i] = src[i];
+        }
+    }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Deep copy the given object. The object MUST NOT have circular references and
+ * MUST NOT have functions.
  * @param {Object} obj The object to deep copy.
  * @return {Object} A copy of the object without any references to the original.
  */
diff --git a/spec/integ/matrix-client.spec.js b/spec/integ/matrix-client.spec.js
index 8e5e0b670..1dbcafe53 100644
--- a/spec/integ/matrix-client.spec.js
+++ b/spec/integ/matrix-client.spec.js
@@ -156,7 +156,6 @@ describe("MatrixClient", function() {
             var fired = false;
             client.on("User.presence", function(event, user) {
                 fired = true;
-                console.log("handle");
                 expect(user).toBeDefined();
                 expect(event).toBeDefined();
                 if (!user || !event) { return; }