The museum's collection began to form in 1925, when an exhibition dedicated to the Decembrists was created at the Irkutsk Museum of Revolution for the 100th anniversary of the uprising on Senate Square. Since then, the collection has continued to grow.

For 30 years, the Decembrists Museum was part of the Irkutsk Regional Local History Museum. In 2000, it became an independent state cultural institution called the "Irkutsk Regional Historical and Memorial Decembrists Museum."

The museum includes two memorial houses and adjacent estates: Prince S. P. Trubetskoy's on Dzerzhinsky Street, 64, and S. G. Volkonsky's on Volkonsky Lane, 10. The permanent exhibition is dedicated to the lives of the Decembrists in exile and settlement in Eastern Siberia, and it houses authentic items from the Trubetskoy family.

Every year from December 14 to 26, the museum organizes a regional festival "Decembrist Evenings." During this time, concerts are held at the regional philharmonic, literary and musical salons take place in the homes of the Volkonskys and Trubetskoys, literary evenings are held in libraries, as well as outreach events in the cities of Shelekhov and Angarsk and in the "Decembrist" villages: Urika, Olonka, Ust-Kuda, Oyek, Yelani, and others. As part of the festival, a scientific and practical conference for schoolchildren is held, featuring young researchers from Irkutsk, Bratsk, Ulan-Ude, Sayansk, Usolye-Sibirskoye, Shelekhov, and rural schools. Authors of the best reports receive diplomas and books, while others receive diplomas.

The Decembrists Museum is actively engaged in publishing activities. It has resumed the publication of the academic documentary series "Polar Star," which has been published in Irkutsk since 1979 and includes letters, memoirs, and works of the Decembrists. To date, 28 volumes have been released.

Brochures about the museum have also been created in four languages: Russian, English, French, and German.