The Croatian School Museum was opened on 19 August 1901, on the 30th anniversary of the Croatian Pedagogic-Literary Assembly (HPKZ), a professional association of teachers, whose numerous achievements in the area of education and culture also include the foundation of the School Museum. Since its establishment, the Museum has been located in the building of Croatian Teachers’ Home built in 1889 owing to enormous dedication and engagement of Croatian teachers.

The core of the Museum’s holdings consisted of items from exhibitions of teaching aids held in Zagreb in 1871 and 1892, while many teachers, schools, publishers and teaching aids manufacturers also contributed with gifts. The Royal Territorial Government, which had also promised a permanent annual support to the Museum in the amount of 1,000 krona, made a gift to the Museum after the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 – a work made by the pupils of Royal Territorial Trade School in Zagreb under the supervision of Professor Herman Bollé – a representative unit from the first Museum exhibition, which is still part of the present-day permanent exhibition.

Museum materials were divided into three sections: museum items (historical and modern division with a total of 4,935 items), pedagogical library (historical school library and general pedagogical library with a total of 2,741 works) and archives (290 pieces). Soon after the opening of the Museum, the Croatian Pedagogic-Literary Assembly published a museum catalogue with basic information on all three sections and a list of held items. The Museum was open to the public twice a week – on Thursdays and Sundays from 10 to 12. 

During the First World War, the Museum had stopped working, with problems continuing in the period between the two wars, when politically generated stratification among Croatian teachers reflected on the functioning of the Museum itself. In 1929, the Croatian Pedagogic-Literary Assembly gave the Museum over to the Union of Croatian Teachers’ Associations (SHUD), and in 1936 it was taken over by the Yugoslav Teachers Association.

During the Second World War, the Museum holdings were stored in the shelter of the Museum building. The Croatian Pedagogic-Literary Assembly again assumed ownership of the Museum after the war and maintained it until 1953, when the City of Zagreb took it over and the Museum became one of the cultural institutions of the city.

The permanent exhibition, established in 1951, closed down only three years later. Between 1954 and the end of the twentieth century, around 300 different themed exhibition shows were held in the Museum. A new permanent exhibition was opened in 2000. Since that time, the number of visitors has been persistently growing and the communication with them has been improving constantly. Occasional studio exhibitions present themes from the history of the school system and education, as well as materials from the Museum holdings.