The collection celebrates the role of working people in creating the nation and its wealth.

[3] The Blackball Museum of Working Class History Charitable Trust received funding in 2002 from the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board, the Blackball Residents' Association and the West Coast Development Trust to investigate the feasibility of a museum.

[6] While the project was under development, the trust engaged in historical work such as recording oral histories of local residents.

[7] In February 2010, the museum sponsored a memorial to the 1908 coal miners' strike.

The museum also includes a memorial wheel dedicated to those who have died at work in New Zealand, with a special section for the 29 miners who died in the Pike River Mine disaster of 19 November 2010.