In the fall of 1985, Vyacheslav Viktorovich Samartsev, an energetic and active person, was appointed the first secretary of the district party committee. At one of the meetings of the veterans' lecture hall, he proposed to create a local history museum in the Afanasyevsky district, which had preserved many of its traditions and foundations.

On January 13, 1986, the bureau of the district committee of the Communist Party and the executive committee of the district council made a decision to prepare for the establishment of a local history museum in the district. A council was formed for this purpose, which included activists, representatives of interested organizations and institutions, as well as initiators of the local history movement. A.F. Zhdanova became the chairperson of the council. At regular meetings held by Anna Fedorovna, current issues were discussed, plans were outlined, activists reported on the completion of assignments and received new tasks.

By the order of V.V. Samartsev, the secretary of the district committee for ideology, Nadezhda Nikolaevna Tutynina constantly provided support to the museum. When a specialist's consultation was needed, Natalia Leonidovna Goloviznina, a methodologist from the regional local history museum, was invited, who provided the necessary recommendations and supported the work of the activists.

It took three years to collect, process, and systematize materials and exhibits, develop main directions, prepare discussions and lectures based on the collected material, and also to draft the museum's exhibition plan. When a large number of documents, letters, photographs, and antiques were collected, the question of constructing a museum building arose. The building was completed in just one year.

Funding was provided through the collective farm 'Zavety Lenina,' where a significant role was played by the chairman Alexander Ivanovich Kharin and the foreman Anatoly Kirillovich Porubov, who were responsible for the delivery of construction materials and equipment. The construction was carried out by the Omutninsky construction trust, and the equipment for the exhibition halls was manufactured at the Lepse factory in Kirov. The installers from the Afanasyevsky section of the Omutninsky PМК also contributed. The Department of Culture of the Kirov region provided funding for the museum and allocated positions. Employees of the department and specialists from the Kirov regional local history museum participated in the design and planning work and the museum's decoration.

On December 6, 1988, on the 70th anniversary of the district party organization, the first hall dedicated to the establishment and strengthening of Soviet power in the Zyuzdinsky region was opened in the local history museum. The official opening of the museum took place on March 26, 1989, based on order No. 20 from the Department of Culture of the Afanasyevsky district executive committee.