Bernard L. Herman (1951–2024)

Bernard L. Herman died of a cerebral hemorrhage on December 30, 2024 at the age of 73.

Bernard Herman earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature and art history at the College of William and Mary and his master’s and doctoral degrees in folklore and folklife at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Herman joined the University of Delaware (UD) in 1977 as a lecturer in the Department of History. In 2000, he was named the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Art History. After a distinguished career at UD, Dr. Herman moved to the Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he served as the George Tindall Professor of Southern Studies.

Dr. Herman was a renowned scholar of American material culture and a prolific writer. He had produced award-winning books such as Architecture and Rural Life in Central Delaware 1700–1900, The Stolen House, and Town House: Architecture and Material Life in the Early American City, 1780–1830.

Read how Dr. Herman’s colleagues, friends, and former students remember him on UDaily.