Anderson opened his very own MUSEUM with an incredible fossil collection!

Meet Anderson, a schoolboy from Cambridge, Illinois, USA, who knows way more about dinosaurs and the ancient life than the average person!

In fact, he has become the world’s youngest person to curate a museum (male).

Anderson Taylor was just 9 years and 340 days old when he opened the Cambridge Natural History Museum on 10 August 2024, being its sole owner and curator.

WOW!

It all started in 2022 after a family trip to Scotland…

“When I went to Scotland,” Anderson told us, “I went to the Staffin Dinosaur Museum and that’s what inspired me to make this museum. I've been into dinosaurs and fossils all my life.”

As soon as he got back home, he started the long process of turning his dream into a reality.

Do you think record breaking is easy? Think again.

Here is what he told us about his journey: “I found a building first, after doing tonnes of talks at the Village Office here in town. [The space] used to be the fire station, the village hall, and now it is the museum. After that, they started giving me items to display, display cases, and then after like a month or so we started getting funding.”

At the time of the interview, Anderson has raised an jaw-dropping $20,000 in funding!

When asked about how he collects his artefacts, he said: “Most of the time it’s actually people that come in and give me some of the rocks, then if I don’t know what they are I ask them if they know. 

“Or I take them to an expert, essentially if the expert knows what the rock is, he or she will tell me, or they’ll send it to another expert and then if they still don’t know what it is we classify it as a new thing.”

Anderson in now 11 years old, he is pretty much an expert on the prehistoric life, and his collection of fossils, minerals, gems and taxidermy animals is absolutely museum worthy.

His mum said: “I learn something new from him every day, whenever I talk to him he’s got a new fact to share.”

And of course, he loves to teach what he knows to anyone who will listen. 

“[A fun fact about minerals is that] the word hematite means blood stone, because if you were to scratch it on something it would turn red. Fluorite, one of my personal favourite gemstones, is the state mineral/gemstone of Illinois. And did you know that most of the fossils that you see in the Illinois fossils case were collected by three-year-old me?”

Did you know any of these fun facts?

And when asked about why people should visit his museum, he said: “There is a lot of interactive stuff and people usually get a souvenir to take home with them.”

Would you visit Anderson’s museum?

Here are Anderson’s favourite dinosaurs: “[My three favourite dinosaur species are] the Lythronax, that one is a tyrannosaurus or T. rex but taller, slimmer, shorter in length. The second one is called Latenivenatrix, it’s a troodontid, so if you know the dinosaur Troodon, it’s similar to that. The third favourite dinosaur, well, that one would have to be the Gigantspinosaurus which is a stegosaurian, it has lots of spikes.”

What’s YOUR top 3?

When he grows up, Anderson wants to be a palaeontologist and also do more research on everything that interests him, from science, biology, archaeology and geology, to astrobiology!

But he still wants to continue curating the museum, as he thinks “it’s such a fun experience.”

Sometimes, in order to reach your goal or dream, you’ll have to ask for help from others, like your parents, teachers or friends. In Anderson’s case, his mum and dad were more than happy to help him reach his goal.

“Anderson is very persistent,” his dad said. “[…] Ever since we got back from that vacation, he really has never lost sight of that goal of opening his museum. [He] hopes that the museum can exist well beyond his lifetime, which I think is very admirable.”

Let Anderson be your inspiration to chase your dreams and never give up on them!

So what is Anderson’s personality like?

“He’s just a very fun and funny kid,” his dad told us. “He has a great sense of humour, and I think that helps with all of this, he’s great with the public and it’s been fun to watch him grow.

“He absolutely knows more about all of the prehistoric life than I do. I’ve learned a lot from him and just from being around this and helping him.”

Congratulations, Anderson, you are Officially Amazing!