The museum was opened in 1940 in a historic building from the second half of the 19th century, where in the 1880s there was a bakery owned by Andrei Stepanovich Derehkov.

The decision to create the museum was made by the Council of People's Commissars of the Tatar ASSR in 1938. Significant preparatory work for its establishment and the collection of materials was carried out by local historian N.F. Kalinin, who met with Gorky and published books about his life in Kazan. More than 2,000 exhibits were donated to the museum by the writer's relatives E.P. and N.A. Peshkovs, as well as by the families of F.I. Shalyapin and A.S. Derehkov.

From 1941 to 1979, the museum was headed by M.N. Elizarova, who was personally acquainted with Gorky.

In 1995, a literary café called "Wandering Dog" opened at the museum, featuring an exhibition titled "Poets of the Silver Age" and hosting cultural events.

In 2016, the building underwent reconstruction, and a new exhibition was created, including two sections: "The Writer, the Era, the Hero. The Life and Creative Path of A.M. Gorky" on the first floor of the memorial part of the building and "F.I. Shalyapin and Kazan" on the second floor of the museum.

The museum's exhibition is dedicated to the Kazan period of Maxim Gorky's life from 1884 to 1888, which he considered his "spiritual birth."

The foundation of the museum is the memorial bakery where the writer worked as a baker's assistant in 1886 and 1887. Here, his personal belongings, autographs, editions of literary works, and items from that era are displayed, as well as the recreated interior of the bakery.

The museum organizes exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and literary evenings. Since 1942, the All-Russian Scientific Conference "Gorky Readings" has been held, and since 1973, the "Shalyapin Readings."

On the second floor of the museum is the "Shalyapin Collection," dedicated to the life and work of the great Russian singer F.I. Shalyapin, a friend of A.M. Gorky. The collection includes about 4,000 exhibits, among which are programs, postcards with the singer's iconography, scores, publications, photographic materials, paintings, and much more. The exhibits were collected by renowned researchers of Shalyapin's work: S.V. Goltsman, V.I. Harmash, and also include gramophone records of the singer's voice from the collection of Y.F. Kotlyarov, released in the early 20th century in Italy, France, England, and Russia. Among the exhibits is also a Paris edition of Shalyapin's book "Mask and Soul," antique albums with postcards, manuscripts, letters, books, posters, and authentic items of F.I. Shalyapin, donated to the museum by his daughters and granddaughter.

Particular attention is given to a piano made in St. Petersburg in the second half of the 19th century, which was purchased by Savva Mamontov for the Private Russian Opera and gifted to Shalyapin after a fire at the theater in 1896. In February 2020, on the birthday of F. Shalyapin, this unique exhibit, carefully restored, once again resonated for museum visitors after a long silence.