The museum opened on August 18, 1961, in the building of the primary school in the village of Klinovoe, Medvensky District, known as the "House of the Archaeologist." On that day, the words appeared above the entrance: "I do not sell the treasures of my Motherland." This was the response of Dmitry Yakovlevich Samokvasov, a Russian historian, lawyer, and archaeologist, to the Englishmen who tried to purchase his rich collection of archaeological finds.

The museum, referred to as a "repository of memory," collects materials on the history of the native land and outstanding residents of the Medvensky District. The exhibits are arranged in thematic displays: "Nature of the Native Land," "Peasant Household Items Before the Revolution," "Revolution. Civil War. Collectivization," "The Great Patriotic War," "Post-War Reconstruction of the National Economy," "Medvensky District During the Years of Socialist Flourishing," "Our Distinguished Countrymen," and "Exhibition Hall."