Flintham's village shop closed in 1982. The idea of the museum began in 1990 when stacks of unsold shop stock and documents were found. Since then volunteers have worked to clean and conserve the artefacts to display their finds.

The museum is housed in an eighteenth-century building by the side of the village pond. The building was originally a charity school and later became the village Reading Room where Flintham residents went to read the local paper, borrow a book and put the world to rights.

The Museum was a finalist in the European Museum of the Year competition in 2001.