[1] The museum is housed in the former town hall and jail of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, a building opened in 1896, designed in eclectic style by French architect Victor Dubugras.

Its collection is composed of historical objects and documents related to the city's history and to the settlement waves that came to the region in the middle of the 19th century, especially North American immigrants, who came after the end of the Civil War.

[2] The creation of a museum dedicated to preserving the memory of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and of the immigrants who settled in the city since the end of the 19th century aimed to meet a long-standing demand of the residents.

To serve as the museum's headquarters, the former town hall and jailhouse was chosen, due to its architectural and historical importance, as well as its privileged location in the city center, next to Nove de Julho Square.

[2] The project was in the hands of the Administrative Commission of the Immigration Museum, formed by representatives of several cultural organizations of the city, and was guided by museologists Júlio Abe and Maria Inês Mantovani, from São Paulo.

On the first floor, objects, photographs, documents, and didactic panels related to the history of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and the former public jail are exhibited.

It operates in a building attached to the museum, also next to the Maria Aparecida Nogueira Municipal Library, and maintains, in addition to its archival functions, a cultural program, organizing workshops, debates, and educational projects.

[2] The same year was the 20th anniversary of the museum, highlighted by the exhibition Cenas da Minha Terra ("Scenes from my Land"), with photographs by José Roberto Bueno.

[1] Since February 2011, the museum has benefited from an agreement between the Secretariat of Culture and Tourism of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste and the Industrial Social Services (SESI), aiming to hold monthly exhibitions in the "Antônio Duarte Artist Room".

By then, the place had already become inadequate to continue this function, as its capacity was exhausted, resulting in disobedience to the minimum standards of hygiene, safety, and comfort of the inmates.

once belonging to prominent personalities in the region, immigrants who settled in the city in the second half of the nineteenth century (Dodson, Mac-Knigh Jones, Thatcher families, etc.