[1] The museum was founded in 1967 as Transcona's Centennial Project celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada and officially opened on October 15, 1968.

Over the years, the TM has acquired an extensive collection of artifacts, photographs and documentary records that together tell the story of Transcona's community history.

The archival collection consists primarily of photographs and textual documents including maps, plans, technical drawings, minutes, correspondence, newspapers, and ephemeral records.

The collection is composed of archaeological objects from many of Manitoba's First Nations cultures, including the Cree, Anishinaabe, Inuit, Dakota and Chipewyan.

The collection provides a glimpse of pre-European contact life in the boreal forest, aspen parkland, and prairie regions of Manitoba.

These include projectile points, bifaces, scrapers, grooved axe heads, mauls, pottery and rim shards.