Mutare Museum was initially established by local enthusiasts as the Umtali Museum Society in 1954, before becoming a National Museum in 1959 and will always be indebted for its most spectacular collection of vintage cars, motorbikes and wagons, coaches and steam engines donated to the Museum by local enthusiastic collectors and the first Honorary Curator, Captain E. F. Boultbee.

In 1957, the Municipality of Umtali made available to the Museum Society the dining-room and kitchen section of the old Silver Oaks Hostel, a wood and corrugated iron building in Victory Avenue just above the present Museum site. This gave the Society the opportunity to exhibit, on a semi-permanent basis, the collections which it then possessed and the galleries of the new Umtali Museum were completed in time for the official opening by Sir Alfred Beit on 13th September, 1964.

The Natural History displays in the Beit, Mezzanine and Eastern Districts Galleries were created by a Mutare Museum team with perhaps the most outstanding cases being the Chirinda Forest case in the Eastern Districts Gallery and the "Introduction to the Insects" case in the Beit Gallery. Two striking displays are installed at the entrance of the Eastern Districts Gallery, these being a two metre high pictorial map of Manicaland and a series of colour enlargements of local wild flowers. The dioramas and display cases are exceptionally life-like and extremely informative on the various wildlife habitats.

The general layout of the excellent Geology Display was prepared by the Curator in consultation with Professor Bond, Dr. Cooper and Mr. Mennell who cut and polished many specimens for the display of precious stones.

Antiquities are featured in the Boultbee Gallery which has a wide collection of old guns and pistols, swords and bayonets used over centuries which was prepared by Captain Boultbee. Three major collections form the bulk of the firearms display. Firstly from Colonel Methuen who had an excellent collection of military equipment consisting largely of the heavier pieces, including the very fine seven pounder field gun. Then the nucleus of the small arms collection brought out from England and donated by Captain Boultbee, who was Honorary Keeper of Arms until his death in 1965, and finally the small and medium arms added by Mr Perkins, successor to Captain Boultbee as Honorary Keeper of Arms. The collection has been updated with examples of weapons from the Liberation Struggle and is acknowledged as one of the best in Africa.

The Beit Gallery focuses on archaeology and ethnology. The archaeological displays cover the history of man; Early Stone Age; Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age. Many implements of those periods are exhibited, as there are many examples to view in Manicaland, together with a painted copy of the late Stone Age Diana's Vow rock painting near Rusape. The Iron Age is covered and a variety of copper, iron and bronze bracelets of the period shown.

In the Ethnological displays, there are artefacts from local cultural heritage sites, as well as examples of modern utilitarian pottery and basket ware, together with a collection of snuff boxes, headrests and ceremonial axes. A collection of knives from the Eastern Districts shows intricate carving and copper work; these forms of decoration are still to be found. A figure of an N’anga, or traditional healer with his typical regalia and equipment is shown.

The Mezzanine Gallery features permanent displays of natural history specimens from Manicaland including snakes, fish and mammals. These attractive dioramas showing animals in their natural surroundings dating from 1964 form the basis of most of the displays featured in the Museum today.

The Eastern Districts Gallery displays flora and fauna of Manicaland with 1964 time capsules depictions of the Vumba, Nyanga, Eastern Highlands, Save Valley, Chimanimani and Chirinda Forest.

The Transport Gallery has a permanent display of animal drawn wagons, motorbikes, vintage and later cars and tractors for agriculture that were used during the early days, plus two railway locomotives.  The “Winston Churchill” was built in 1929 by Hudswell Clarke in Leeds, the builders’ number being 1523. Two locomotives were purchased by the Rhodesia Railway that on 1 October 1927 took over all the track and rolling stock that had previously been operated by the Mashonaland Railway Company under the title Beira and Mashonaland and Rhodesia Railways. They were RR1 “Rhodesia” and RR2 “Winston Churchill” and were bought to replace the “Jack Tar” now at the Bulawayo Railway Museum. Both are 0-6-0T locomotives; but their wheelbases proved too long for Beira docks, so they were kept in storage for twelve years, before being moved to Mafikeng and Mutare for shunting duties, and finally to their current homes at the Bulawayo Railway Museum and Mutare Museum.

The “Mary” is a 0-4-2 narrow gauge tank locomotive built in 1936 by Peckett and Sons of Bristol and is named after Mary Bayliss, the wife of the General Manager of the Bechuanaland Exploration Company, who then managed the Rhodesia Chrome Mines Ltd at Selukwe; she worked on the chrome mines of the Selukwe Peak Light railway until 1967. She was the 4^th locomotive to be used on the SPLR, which had its beginnings in 1916, and was a 2ft 0 inch gauge line which connected with the standard gauge 3ft 6 inch gauge railhead at Selukwe. “Mary” operated with “Ivy” the 3^rd Peckett tank locomotive (now at the Kadoma Steam Centre) and also the 7^th locomotive, the “Karen” of the same 0-6-0 design, for many years until the arrival of the more powerful Hudswell Clarke diesel locomotive.

The Ivel tractor is the oldest tractor in Zimbabwe, it was used for farming and was purchased around 1904 and is only one of eight complete Ivel tractors known world-wide.