The Augustów Land Museum was created on 11 October 1973 in Augustów by the resolution of the People’s Poviat Council as a result of gathering the collections kept by the Community Augustów Land Museum, ran by the Society of the Augustów Land Enthusiasts, and the Augustów Canal Museum, which had just been established by that organisation. It had been decided that the newly opened museum would house the two collections in the Department of Ethnography and the Department of the History of the Augustów Canal.

As early as in 1959, Stanisław Ostrowski (1898-1985), the then director of the Poviat Community Centre in Augustów, made the first attempts to start the society and a regional museum. Consequently, the Poviat Folk Culture Exhibition was organised and presented from 15 August to 19 September 1959 in a room that has formerly housed the Łowiczanka cinema at 58 1 Maja Street (the current 58 3 Maja Street). The exhibition was opened for public in the summer seasons of 1960 and 1961. A significant number of buildings, except the ones that enriched the collections of the museum, have not been preserved.

The Community Augustów Land Museum was founded by Stanisław Ostrowski soon after the Society of the Augustów Land Enthusiasts had been established in 1987. Apart from his role as a society board secretary, he was also a community custodian in the museum. He engaged fire brigades and schools into the search of antiques that could enlarge the museum collections. His guided tours were told with a genuine custodian passion. The exhibition, having a form of a warehouse, had a gala opening on 3 May 1968 in a room of the former Łowiczanka cinema.

The Augustów Canal Museum was opened on the initiative of the District Water Management Board in Giżycko and the Society of the Augustów Land Enthusiasts in 1973. Maria Maranda, a board secretary and culture inspector at the Board of the People’s Poviat Council, was a main organiser. The first exhibition, which had been prepared by the Museum of Technology NOT in Warsaw, was opened on 16 September 1973 in a historic building, popularly yet incorrectly called the Prądzyński’s Manour House, of a former wooden port at 5A 29 Listopada Street.

Originally, the facility reported to the Department of Culture of the Board of the People’s Poviat Council, and from 1 January 1975 of the Municipal People’s Council. From 1 July 1975, as the Museum in Augustów, it became a department of the District Museum in Suwałki. The Department of Ethnography, the museum's office and library were situated in facilities which previously housed the Interschool Day-Care Room and were rented from Wanda and Henryk Zdziennicki at 12 1 Maja Street (the current 12 3 Maja Street). The building of the Department of the History of the Augustów Canal underwent an extensive renovation in 1982-1984 with the aim of adapting it to exhibition purposes.

In 1985, again under the name of the Augustów Land Museum, the museum started being supervised by the Augustów Town Hall.

From 1991, the museum became a part of the Augustów Cultural Facilities, which report to the local government authorities of the town.

From March 1992, the collections and exhibitions of the Department of Ethnography, the office, library and scientific laboratory, have been located in the building of the Municipal Public Library at 7 Hoża Street.

The collections mostly consist of gifts from the inhabitants of the town and surrounding villages.

From March 1974, having served his work placement, a current museum’s custodian, MA Wojciech Batura, has been a scientific worker of the museum and its director. Apart from him, the museum has also employed guides, who served administrative functions as well, and a documentalist: Irena Cudnik (1973-1984), Tatiana Przekop (1975-1980), Zofia Kugiel (1978-1980), Józefa Drozdowska (1977-1978), Jolanta Pawlenko, Elżbieta Matyszczyk, Anna Gajewska - Guzewicz (1980-), Maria Mikłaszewicz - Harkiewicz (1980-1981), Celina Grela – Kalejta (1981-1982), Agnieszka Łozowska – Żabilińska (1984-1987), Tomasz Michałowski (1987-1990), Barbara Kondracka (1987-), an ethnographer, Janusz Przyczyna (1988-1992).

During 1968-2008, the museum’s exhibitions were visited by nearly 300 000 visitors.