In 1919, the People's House opened in the building of the women's gymnasium, where one room was designated as a museum, uniting all school local history collections. There was no special staff member to manage the museum, so this work was voluntarily taken on by Sergey Ivanovich Ponomarev, a natural science teacher at school No. 4. The museum was actively replenished with new exhibits, mostly coming from rural schools. Teachers sent items of Mordovian antiquity, clothing, and household goods. The numismatic department of the museum was enriched with ancient coins found during earthworks.

From November 1925, the museum was managed by Alexander Nikolaevich Izosimov, who had previously worked as a teacher at the Zhegalovka primary school. There was still no official position for a museum worker.

In 1928, a position for the museum curator was approved, and funds began to be allocated for the acquisition of exhibits.

The museum did not have a permanent location and moved from one building to another. From 1948, it was located in a building that had previously belonged to merchant Kotov, a former salt warehouse, where it remained until 1970. In December 1970, the museum moved to a building at 4 Soviet Square, where an electric station had previously been located. Since 1992, it was transferred to a building at 3 K. Marx Street. Since October 18, 2010, the museum has been housed in a new building of the Palace of Culture.

The museum has four departments: the nature department, the pre-revolutionary past department, the room of military glory and Vice Admiral A.S. Shindyayev of the Navy and border guard sailors, as well as the 'Made in the USSR' department.

All departments have existed for a long time but are annually replenished with new exhibits according to their themes. Albums are also created on the Great Patriotic War, internationalist soldiers, creative individuals, and other topics.

The museum's funds hold more than 13 thousand exhibits. The most valuable and unique collections include numismatics, archaeological and ethnographic collections, as well as a collection of stuffed animals and birds.