Trove of African art found at Missouri Southern

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Officials at Missouri Southern State University are assessing a recent trove of African art found in a small room under a stairwell.

Christine Bentley said after she was named to head the art department at Missouri Southern, she wanted to assess the university's African art holdings and found a 320-piece collection tucked away in the small room that had been enclosed below a basement stairwell.

She was stunned by what she found.

"How in the world did we have that much stuff in that little room?" Bentley said. "It was a much more extensive collection than I thought it was going to be. I was surprised that we had something of this quality."

Staff from the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence traveled to Missouri Southern earlier this month to view the 320-piece collection and said each item must be properly documented and cataloged, and that steps must be taken to ensure the collection's preservation.

The works that constitute the basis of the collection, represent the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were presented to the university in 1997 by John and Pam Finley. The overall collection includes ceremonial masks, tools and musical instruments and has an estimated value of nearly $500,000, The Joplin Globe reported.

"The pieces were stored in boxes and plastic containers and on shelves from the ceiling to the floor," said Burt Bucher, an associate professor of art at MSSU. "It was not temperature-controlled, but it was not as bad as it could have been."

Bentley said she'll seek funding to get the collection properly stored and appraised.

"It's a collection worthy of that funding and attention," she said.