The museum safeguards and disseminates Huastec culture by uniting the archeological and ethnographic collections on the subject. It was opened on January 16, 1960 in a building that was part the Ciudad Madero Technological Institute but it switched to its new site on October 4, 2003 thanks to the efforts of a number of institutions, notably the Tamaulipas State Government, Conaculta, Tamaulipas INAH Center, San Luis Potosi INAH Center, Veracruz INAH Center and Patronato del Centro Cultural Tampico, A.C.

It is located inside the Metropolitan Cultural Space of Tampico (METRO), and the museum plan is based on the diversity of the different Huastec culture groups (the Tenek, Nahua, Pame, Otomi and Tepehua) from the pre-Hispanic era to the present. The collection brings together nearly 2,000 pieces from the states in which the Huastec region lies, namely Hidalgo, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Tamaulipas. It is a spectacular and groundbreaking exhibition covering the themes stated in the gallery names: Life, Fertility, Art, Death, Daily Life, World View, Body and Decoration, Work, Exchange, Sacred Space, Myth and Oral Tradition, and Huastec Heritage.