An 11-year-old dinosaur fan in a small US town just made history as he now holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest museum curator

An 11-year-old schoolboy from Cambridge, Illinois, has made history by becoming the world’s youngest male to curate a museum. Anderson Taylor earned the Guinness World Records title after opening the Cambridge Natural History Museum when he was just nine years and 340 days old on August 10, 2024.

Anderson is the museum’s sole owner and curator and has built a collection featuring fossils, minerals, gems and taxidermy animals.

A trip to Scotland sparked his museum dream

Anderson’s journey began in 2022 after a family trip to Scotland. A visit to the Staffin Dinosaur Museum inspired his fascination with creating a museum of his own.


“When I went to Scotland,” Anderson said, “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.”

After returning home, Anderson began working towards his goal. He gave presentations in his community to generate interest in his idea, eventually receiving support and donations for his collection.

From old fire station to natural history museum

Anderson eventually found a building for his museum in his hometown. The space had previously served as a fire station and village hall before being transformed into the Cambridge Natural History Museum.

“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 his interview, Anderson had raised $20,000 in funding for the museum.

Community members helped build his collection

Much of Anderson’s collection has come from people who visit the museum and donate rocks and other specimens. When he cannot identify an item, he turns to experts for help.

“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.”

His mother learns something new from him every day

Anderson’s knowledge of prehistoric life has impressed his family, with his mother saying that he constantly shares new facts with her.

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

Anderson is equally passionate about sharing his knowledge with museum visitors. He particularly enjoys explaining facts about minerals and fossils.

“[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?”

Dinosaur knowledge goes beyond his age

Anderson’s fascination with dinosaurs is a major part of his interests. He has three favourite dinosaur species, including Lythronax, Latenivenatrix and Gigantspinosaurus.

“[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.”

He wants to become a palaeontologist

Anderson hopes to become a palaeontologist when he grows up. He also wants to earn multiple PhDs in fields including science, biology, archaeology, geology, palaeontology and astrobiology.

Despite his ambitions, he has no plans to give up his museum.

He said he wants to continue curating it because “it’s such a fun experience.”

Parents supported his passion

Anderson’s parents have encouraged his curiosity and helped him turn his ambition into reality. His father described him as persistent and said he never abandoned his goal of opening a museum after returning from Scotland.

“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.”

His father also praised Anderson’s personality and ability to connect with visitors.

“He’s also just a very fun and funny kid, 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.”

Anderson’s mother said she was particularly proud of her son for achieving a Guinness World Records title.

“I grew up reading the Guinness World Records books as a kid and marvelling at all of those facts, and the fact that I gave birth to a record holder is pretty fantastic!”