Cambridge Illinois has a new museum... the Cambridge Natural History Museum. It opened up August 10th, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Cambridge Natural History Museum will hold a grand opening celebration Saturday, August 10th, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Located at 132 W Center Street, Cambridge, IL, the museum will showcase a captivating collection of fossils, minerals, and Native American artifacts, all curated by a remarkable young paleontologist. Guests will even have a chance to touch a real dinosaur fossil.
Anderson Taylor, a 9 year-old Cambridge resident, is very excited to see his dream of opening a museum come true. “I want to teach other kids, as well as adults who aren’t able to go to museums in larger cities, about natural history and prehistoric life”, he says.
The idea to open a museum has been on Anderson’s mind for about two years. “Visiting the Staffin Dinosaur Museum in Scotland really inspired me to open my own museum. The owner of that museum started it when he was a teenager. It isn’t big or fancy like what most people think of when they think of inspiring museums, but it contains many important and exciting fossils and I really enjoyed talking to and learning from the owner, who discovered all of the pieces I was looking at”, says Anderson.
Anderson is a lifelong student of paleontology and has been collecting and studying fossils for as long as he can remember. His study of fossils has brought him around the world. He has traveled to observe evidence of ancient life as far as the Isle of Skye in Scotland and the Morrison Formation in Colorado. For a school project he portrayed Barnum Brown, the paleontologist who discovered the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and he has hosted several public presentations on prehistoric life in Illinois and beyond. Anderson and his brother, Miles, also host a podcast on local history, called “Tot Cast”.
