In 1885, the Hitchcock Endowment Fund was established from a bequest made by Dr. Charles M. Hitchcock to institute a professorship at the University of California for free lectures upon scientific and practical subjects. Dr. Hitchcock, whose longstanding interest in education inspired his contribution, was a physician and served as medical director of the Pacific Coast in the United States Army Medical Corps. The Hitchcock Foundation Lectures began in 1909 and were later expanded and retitled the Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Lectures in 1932, thanks to a generous bequest from Dr. Hitchcock's daughter, Lillie Hitchcock Coit.
