The Page-Barbour Lectures were founded in 1907 by Mrs. Thomas Nelson Page. The lectures, which may be in any field in the arts and sciences, are to present "some fresh aspect or aspects of the department of thought" in which the lecturer is a specialist, and are to possess such unity as to be published in book form by the University.
The James W. Richard Lectures are funded by an endowment established by the will of Este Coffinberry, probated in 1923. The will specifies that one lecture is to be in religion and another in history, especially comparative history. It also provides that the lectures are to be such that the University might publish them as a book.