Dr. Bernard Wailes
Dr. Bernard Wailes, Curator Emeritus, European Archaeology Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum, and Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, was feted on October 4, 1999, following his retirement from Penn.
Bernard came to Penn in 1961. At that time he was the only full-time archaeologist in the Department of Anthropology and played a key role in shaping that branch of the discipline at Penn. He was also virtually the only archaeologist in America specializing in European archaeology and from that modest beginning built a program of graduate study noted for its impressive success. Indeed, he mentored most of the current stock of Europeanist archaeologists in the United States. He also served as Graduate Chair of Anthropology, Classical Archaeology, Ancient History, and, more recently, Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. He is a former editor of this magazine as well. Bernard is well known as the excavator of the important Iron Age site of Dun Ailinne, County Kildare, Ireland, in which capacity he provided field opportunities for many Penn students.
To mark the occasion 150 current and former students, colleagues, and other friends gathered at a party in the Mosaic Gallery. They toasted Bernard and regaled the assemblage with anecdotes and reminiscences. A current student, James Mathieu, printed up a T-shirt in his honor which many guests were wearing.