The museum is located in the former mansion of banker and bread industrialist V. Golovanov, built in the early 20th century. The brick building, with an area of over 450 sq. m, featuring a mezzanine and an attic in the neo-Gothic style, is a monument of local architectural significance.

The museum's collections comprise about 6,500 exhibits, including paintings, graphics, numismatics, archaeological and ethnographic items, as well as applied arts. The weapons section features a bayonet for the Mosin rifle, a blade with a scabbard, an artillery sword from 1872, and other exhibits.

The "History of Technology" collection is dedicated to the development of tractor and diesel engineering, including blueprints and patents by Ivan and Yakov Mamin, as well as S.I. Serebryakov.

Among the rare books, the Psalter from 1888, published by the Old Believer Printing House of the Trinity-Introduced Church, stands out.

The museum also houses a fire pump from the early 20th century, produced at the F.A. Blinov factory in Balakovo. Fyodor Abramovich, known as the inventor of the caterpillar tractor, began serial production of fire pumps in the village of Balakovo around 1887.

Among the valuable exhibits of the museum is the nameplate of the Ilyinsky Regiment, belonging to P.P. Mokin. Such nameplates were awarded to servicemen of the Volyn Regiment, which was the first to side with the Provisional Government. Pavel Petrovich Mokin, a native of the village of Maly Kushum in the Balakovo district, served in St. Petersburg during World War I.

The museum's materials reflect the history of the city from its founding by Old Believers in the 18th century to the present day, including the development of industry, the Saratov Hydroelectric Power Station, and the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant, cultural centers, and educational institutions. The museum's exhibitions tell the story of Balakovo and the life of the pre-revolutionary city. Visiting the exhibition "Teachers Make Russia Famous" will place you in a lesson at a church parish school. The tour "History in the Mirror of Everyday Life" will introduce you to early 20th-century fashion and traditions, such as sewing patchwork quilts for newborns and using rubel in interior design.

Memorial exhibitions are dedicated to notable residents of Balakovo, such as F.A. Blinov, the inventor of the caterpillar tractor; Ivan Vasilyevich Maminov, the first city elder and philanthropist; and Yevgeny Alekseevich Lebedev, an outstanding Soviet actor and People's Artist of the USSR.