In 1960, the museum was founded by Arminda Neves d'Almeida, Heitor Villa-Lobos's second wife, who directed the museum for 24 years. The 19th-century building that houses it is listed by the
National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage. The museum occasionally hosts concerts. In 2019, the museum digitized a collection of photographs it contained, in partnership with and
Federal University of Goiás. In 2020, it launched a virtual exhibition titled "Native Brazilian Music" containing 50 photographs and audio recordings of Brazilian songs, as well as photographs of musicians in recordings. It was shown at
Google Arts & Culture where letters between
Leopold Stokowski and Villa-Lobos were shown as well as newspaper clippings. In June 2021, the museum launched a virtual exhibition titled "Memórias de Arminda" about the life of Arminda Neves, which included an adapted version of
Google Street View. == Collections ==