After the completion of the Andrew W. Mellon Lecture Series in 1987, which firmly established visiting artist lectures as an invaluable addition to the liberal and fine arts education, the RISD community sought new funding opportunities to continue allowing students to engage with notable scholars. The resulting Arts and Humanities Lecture Series, which ran from 1987-1990, brought noted philosophers, historians, authors, critics, artists, and humanists to campus to expose student artists to broader perspectives.

The first two years of funding was provided by the R.I. State Council on the Arts, with further funding coming from private donors. Artists in the lecture series included Errol Morris, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Frances Fitzgerald.

The videos presented in this collection were extracted from VHS tapes digitized in 2021. This digital preservation project was made possible in part by a Libraries of Rhode Island (LORI) grant from the RI Office of Library & Information Services using funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.