About Us
The Four State Museum of Natural History is a project whose primary goal is to establish a new museum dedicated to paleontology in the Four State area. For now we offer our "traveling museum" to educational facilities such as schools, libraries, museums, and more that would be interested in hosting our displays. Our full traveling museum currently consists of over 100 feet of displays, replicas, and informational materials to entertain and educate people of any age and is growing all the time. We also offer educational programs- bringing our materials and presentations into your school or library to teach people about the fascinating history of our world.
While our initial focus is on dinosaurs and the Mesozoic era as a whole, we plan to eventually explore the wider natural history of our world in order to help grow an appreciation and understanding of the Earth’s natural history and the evolutionary forces that have impacted it.
Our Currator
Brad Shelby is a lifelong resident of the Four State Area who currently resides in Miami, OK with his wife and three children. A lifelong passion for dinosaurs and paleontology has taken him to museums and dig sites across North America, and in 2021 he began work on the Four State Museum project in the hopes of bringing the wonders of the ancient world to his community.
Meet Bakker!
Our mascot here at the FSMNH is Bakker the Ceratosaurus! Ceratosaurus was a meat eating dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic (153-148 million years ago) in what is now North America. It's name, meaning "horned lizard," comes from the prominent horns above their eyes and at the end of their snouts. Our dream of establishing the Four State Museum of Natural History began when our curator, Bradly Shelby, acquired a museum quality replica of a Ceratosaurus skull and found himself flooded with requests by people who wanted to see it for themselves. As people of all varieties began to visit the skull and to discuss their love of dinosaurs with Mr. Shelby, the idea for a museum was formed and has since grown into what it is today. As the piece that started it all, Bakker has earned his place here as the official mascot of the FSMNH.