The main collection of the museum is located in Tromsø in the building which was the home of the famous Norwegian author Sara Fabricius better known by her pseudonym Cora Sandel.

Dissemination of photography within the documentary genre is an important field of activity at the museum, which forms part of an international collaboration.

[2] In 2004, the new museum was opened in Storgata 95, a house that from 1911 until 2001 functioned as a meeting place for workers (Norwegian: Folkets Hus).

The house at Storgata 95 in Bergen Empire style was originally built in 1838 by Johan Friedrich Daniel Mack (1800–1875), a merchant and consul from Braunschweig, Germany.

The house was owned by the Mack family until 1894 when it was bought by businessman and politician Johan Henrik Rye Holmboe (1863-1933), who was a wholesaler and barrel factory owner.

Other residents of the house included superior court prosecutor Carl Skaar with his wife Betty and three children, Martine Clodius, and housekeeper Hansine Petrine Fredriksen.

Several enthusiasts inspired by open-air museums in the south of the country had been working on the site for 40 years prior to the opening.

The main Mortengården building was originally a two-room living room built in the second half of the 18th century from Straumshamna on Kvaløya.