The museum was opened on December 30, 1982, as a public museum. Its organizer was Tamara Vasilyevna Diodorova. Significant contributions to the development of the museum were made by representatives of the national intelligentsia: Mitrofan Alekseevich Tebetev, Darya Mikhailovna Gleboeva, Galina Ivanovna Tribus, and Maria Gerasimovna Zvereva.

The museum introduces visitors to the life and culture of the Middle Ob Khanty in the 1930s and 1940s. The core of the exhibition "Main Occupations and Crafts" consists of an ethnographic collection brought from the Khanty village of Lokhtotkurt. From the items skillfully made by fishermen and hunters in the first half of the 20th century, one can determine the range of activities of the Khanty men.

The interior of the dwelling of the Middle Ob Khanty features kitchen utensils used in the 1930s and 1940s, musical instruments, and clothing, as well as various ornaments on birch bark and fabric. The exhibition conveys a comprehensive image of the impressive lifestyle of the indigenous population of the last century.