The museum is located on one of the oldest streets in the city, previously known as Panskaya, in two historical buildings from the mid-19th century. One of them features a documentary exhibition dedicated to the development of popular education in the Simbirsk province during the 1860s-1880s. The other building houses a memorial exhibition of the First Women's Parish School, one of the city's first primary schools. Previously, this was where the teacher, supervisor, and caretaker lived. A gymnastic complex is installed in the schoolyard.

Today, it is the only museum in the country dedicated to the history of the development of mass and universal education in the second half of the 19th century.