The museum was established by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, a freedom fighter and a pioneer in the sphere related to the social, economic and cultural development of handicrafts. A trust was founded in her memory by her colleague, Ullal Srinivas Malliah, which funds the museum. The museum is currently closed for renovation, but houses about 5000 objects, including rare samples of theatre costumes and puppets, representing the variety of traditional theatre forms in India. The traditional theatre forms represented include Yakshagana (Karnataka and Andra Pradesh) and Kathakali (Kerala). At present, it does not offer any specific services such as a library, but the conservation lab is located in the building itself and the museum has held workshops in the past as well. It received a grant from the Ministry of Culture for the conservation and documentation of museum objects. The conservation work has been entrusted to the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property and is currently in progress. Several changes are being made with the goal of strengthening the base of the museum before opening it up to the public.
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