TUSCALOOSA, Ala.
After more than two years of courtship, Paul R. Jones donated his vast collection of African-American art to the University of Alabama.
The new stewards of the $4.8 million collection plan to display pieces on campus and loan works to other universities and museums.
``It's significant beyond measure,'' said Robert Olin, dean of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences at a news conference Tuesday. ``We've only begun the possibilities this gift brings.''
With more than 1,700 pieces, it is considered one of the largest collections of African-American art, and was coveted by more than Olin and UA. But Jones said he picked Tuscaloosa for several reasons, chief among them is Alabama. Though he lives in Atlanta, he was born in Bessemer.
``This is my way of coming back home in wanting to give a gift to the state of my birth,'' he said. ``This is a gift to Alabama and Alabamians.''
Jones, 80, grew up in the mining town of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co. and went to Alabama State University, where he played football. He finished his college education at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and was then denied admission into UA's School of Law in 1949 after it was discovered he was black.
He lived in Birmingham and worked for the Community Chest, formerly known as the Birmingham Interracial Committee of the Jefferson County Coordinating Council for Social Forces.
He then embarked on a 15-year career with the federal government. He worked with the departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development before becoming deputy director of the Peace Corps based in Thailand.
Though frugal and a smart investor, Jones is not independently wealthy like many art collectors. After buying three pieces from a street vendor in the 1960s, he was hooked on art. He went to free lectures and talked to artists to learn, and decided his collection would be African-American art.
He said museums would rarely display works by black Americans, and, when they did put on an exhibition, it was usually in February, which is also Black History Month.
