HISTORY AND STRATEGIC GOALS

For nearly 100 years, fossils quarries and digsites near the towns of Shell and Greybull in Big Horn County, Wyoming have produced some of the world’s most complete and scientifically important Jurassic-age dinosaur and marine reptile skeletons. Tens of thousands of dinosaur bones have been collected, crated, and shipped out of Big Horn County and currently reside in world-class museums in New York City, Washington, DC, Switzerland, Japan, England, and elsewhere.

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While the discoveries, excavations, and fossils of the Big Horn County are documented in scientific journals, travel guides, educational materials, and historical accounts, local displays and local knowledge of the importance of these discoveries are very modest. Local displays include a few casts of skulls, some femurs, and some bone fragments with almost no displays of who collected them or the scientific importance of the discoveries.

 

Over the next three years the Big Horn Basin Dinosaur and Geoscience Museum seeks to establish a permanent collection in Greybull of a select group of four full-body casts along with displays highlighting their paleontological and historical significance.

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The Big Horn Basin Dinosaur and Geoscience Museum is working cooperatively with the local Town of Greybull to build a ~3000 square foot structure to house them. Such a permanent display would provide significant educational, economic, and social benefits to nearby communities and tourists alike.