Owned and operated by the Outagamie County Historical Society (OCHS), the museum has previously operated under the names The Outagamie Museum and The Houdini Historic Center.

The museum's collections focus on the history of the Fox River Valley, containing artifacts from the 1840s onward.

The History Museum at the Castle also has a large collection of original Harry Houdini personal documents and performance paraphernalia, including a selection of his picks, locks, keys, and handcuffs.

The museum also holds a collection of artifacts from the life of Senator Joe McCarthy, who was from the Appleton area.

The museum owns 35,000 photographs dating back as far as 1857, including ones of Houdini, McCarthy, and Edna Ferber.