The Village Improvement Society, a club founded by Idaho Falls women in 1898 to beautify and bring culture to the growing frontier town, secured a $15,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation in 1913 to build a public library at Eastern Avenue and Elm Street.

[5][6] The museum owns permanent collections pertaining mostly to Idaho history across several disciplines, including archaeology, paleontology, and geology, as well as native inhabitants and early settlers.

[7] Other notable artifacts include a life-size Columbian mammoth replica, a unique Revolutionary War-era American flag, the Northwest's oldest English-language monument, and remnants from the nearby National Reactor Testing Station's pioneering early research on atomic energy.

The museum's flagship permanent exhibit, "Way Out West," is divided into seven galleries: The Marie Putnam Discovery Room includes kids' play areas relating to early settlers and natural history.

The museum hosts school field trips from Idaho and neighboring states, and develops exhibit-related lesson plans and activities for teachers to access online.