When Anne Stoll was a young girl paging through National Geographic magazine, she came across photos of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb. The images left a lasting impression. “I saw those pictures and said to myself, ‘Wow, that’s for me,’” she said.

Her childhood interest would grow into a lifelong passion for archaeology and cultural heritage that she would later share with her husband, George.

The couple first crossed paths in the California desert. Anne was leading a rock art tour in the Granite Mountains Preserve near Needles, organized through a local explorers’ club. George, who had long-enjoyed archaeology and photographing rock art — ancient markings etched into stone — signed up for the tour. George insists they had met before, though Anne laughed, “I never remembered.”

That trip was the beginning of a partnership now spanning 36 years of marriage, countless expeditions and an extraordinary personal library that included more than 700 books on Indigenous art, archaeology, anthropology and history. Today, their collection has found a permanent home at Cal State San Bernardino’s John M. Pfau Library.

The Stolls’ donation — along with a $10,000 gift to the library’s Special Collections & University Archives, the largest monetary contribution in the department’s history — promises to enrich teaching and research at CSUSB well into the future.

The couple initially began collecting books in the 1980s as a way to discover new rock art sites as they traveled the world together. George, a longtime chemical engineering professor at Cal Poly Pomona, and Anne, a professional archaeologist, quickly found that books were more than reference materials — they were inspiration, leading them to discover and explore new sites. 

“George shared my particular interest in archaeology, which was my profession, and we were always on the look-out for special or rare volumes on our favorite topics,” Anne said.

Their collection grew as their travels took them from the deserts of California to the caves of Baja, from the painted walls of Lascaux in France to archaeological sites in Zimbabwe, Namibia, nearly every country in South America, and beyond. Each volume carried with it a memory — sometimes of a journey taken, other times of a journey sparked.

“This collection represents our most active working and exploring years,” George reflected.

Earlier this year, as the couple prepared to sell their home in Claremont and move to a senior living community several miles away, they knew it was time to find a permanent home for their books. 

“Years ago, as my work in cultural resource management blossomed into full-time local employment, I was elected to the board of directors of the Archaeological Survey Association (ASA) and helped to steer ASA's legacy gifts to the University and to the Pfau Library Special Collections,” Anne said. “Thus, our connection to CSUSB was well-established when the time came for us to find a new home for our collection.”

In January 2025, she reached out to Eric Milenkiewicz, head of CSUSB Special Collections & University Archives, and within weeks, the entire collection had been delivered to the university.

Milenkiewicz said processing and cataloging the 700 volumes will take up to two to three years as staff and student assistants carefully compare the donated titles with the library’s existing holdings. Because the Stolls meticulously preserved their books — complete with protective jacket covers — their copies are often in better condition than those already on the shelves.

“In most cases we probably won’t add an additional copy, but if their copy is in better condition, which most likely it will be, their copy will become the library’s copy and the previous edition will be donated to another repository,” Milenkiewicz explained.

The majority of the collection will be placed in the main stacks for students and faculty to check out, while rarer titles will be housed in Special Collections for onsite research. Milenkiewicz said many of the books, published by small presses or historical societies in limited print runs, are difficult to find today.

The Stolls’ gift of $10,000 is unrestricted, meaning those funds can be used where they are most needed by Special Collections & University Archives.

Anne noted that their gift signifies more than preserving books — it’s about opening doors for future researchers. “If in five years we learn that it’s being used by dedicated students every semester, that’s it. The first step is to let people know these books are here,” she said. “We want these books to be used.”

Milenkiewicz believes the collection will strengthen CSUSB’s role as a research destination in Indigenous and cultural studies. “This collection could position CSUSB as a major research resource for Indigenous studies … It’s like a seed that could grow into something huge,” he said.

The Stolls agree. “Our dream is to see CSUSB develop and expand its reputation as a significant resource hub for cultural research and we hope our gift will encourage others to contribute and share in our optimism for the future at CSUSB,” Anne said.