The Nizhnevartovsk Local History Museum was founded on November 1, 1973, by the decision of the City Council of Workers' Deputies. Initially, the museum was established on a voluntary basis, and a Council was formed under the leadership of E. V. Ardashova. The Council included significant residents of the city, such as the doctor P. T. Moskovkin, oil worker R. I. Kuzovatkin, educators A. A. Sharoglazova and E. M. Malinskaya, as well as Komsomol and party workers N. K. Zaytsev, V. G. Polyakov, and V. P. Shvetsov. The construction and installation management No. 9 of the trust "Nizhnevartovskneftestroi" took patronage over the museum.

The first director and deputy chairman of the museum's Council was Timofey Dmitrievich Shuvaev, a renowned local historian, historian, and educator, who was also awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the city of Nizhnevartovsk.

Since February 1, 1978, the museum became a branch of the regional local history museum and was named "Museum of the Development of Oil Riches of the Middle Priobye." At that time, its collection contained 2,137 items.

In 1994, the museum received the status of a Municipal Institution and was named after Timofey Dmitrievich Shuvaev. As part of the museum complex, on March 11, 2003, a branch called "Museum of the History of Russian Life" was opened, located in the historical center of the city, Stary Vartovsk. This branch represents a historical and household complex, including a two-story wooden house and outbuildings such as barns, a bathhouse, a stable, and a hayloft. Each of these buildings houses museum exhibitions: a peasant hut and a living room, a hallway, a living room of prosperous merchants, and the interior of a room from the 1930s-1940s.