The Kress Lectureship is administered by the AlA, and since 1984 has been underwritten by a series of grants from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York. The Lectureship was established to enable the Institute to invite two distinguished foreign scholars to lecture to members of the AlA, university communities, and general public as part of the AlA's larger annual Lecture Program. The Lecture Program fulfills the AlA's mission by bringing important developments in the field of archaeology to the general public through scholarly lectures hosted by the Institute's Societies throughout the United States and Canada.