The Birsk Historical Museum was founded in 1926 thanks to Ippolit Fyodorovich Bolotin. Initially, it functioned as a local history museum but existed only until 1932. The museum reopened in 1963, but at that time it operated irregularly and had the status of a public institution. Since 1990, the museum has been an official institution of the city of Birsk, and since 1991 it has been part of the state museum network of Bashkortostan.

The museum was located in an old wooden mansion built in 1882. Today, its exhibition area is 254.9 square meters. The exhibits of the museum tell about the trade history of Birsk and the peculiarities of life in the merchant Bashkir town. The museum's collection includes 9,175 items, among which notable are pre-revolutionary photographs from 1896 and 1916, souvenirs from the Birsk artistic products factory, and an ethnographic collection.

In December 2014, the museum moved to a new building specifically constructed for it. Previously, it was located in a pre-revolutionary building with unsatisfactory storage conditions. The new building meets all modern requirements: it has spacious exhibition halls with good ventilation and adjustable heating. Exhibitions are held on the first floor, while the second floor features a historical hall with a variety of exhibits. A freight elevator is provided for lifting heavy items. The museum's fund contains more than ten thousand exhibits.

Here, history and memory of the people's roots are united as a whole. The era of Yemelyan Pugachev coexists with Tsarist Russia and the Soviet period, while rare archaeological finds are alongside musical instruments from different years. Such a combination is only possible in a historical museum.