The origin of this Museum goes back to the period soon  after the  assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the fateful evening of January 30, 1948, when the slow  process of  scouting for, collecting  and preserving  the personal  relics, manuscripts, books,  journals and documents, photographic and audio-visual material, all that could go into a Museum  on  the life,  philosophy and  work  of Gandhiji--began  in an unostentatious way in Mumbai.

Later the work was shifted to Delhi and in early 1951 the nucleus of a Museum on Gandhiji was set up in the Government hutments adjoining Kota House. Later still, in mid-1957, it was shifted to the picturesque old mansion at 5,  Mansingh  Road.

It was finally brought to its present new and permanent   home, most appropriately built opposite  the SAMADHI of Mahatma Gandhi - free India's most revered place of        pilgrimage-at  Rajghat, New Delhi, in 1959. The imposing   two storey Museum was formally  inaugurated by Dr.   Rajendra Prasad, the   President  of India, on January   30, 1961.

The Museum was named 'Gandhi Memorial Museum' (Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya),
now commonly known as 'National Gandhi Museum' (Rashtriya Gandhi Sangrahalaya)
as there are also a number of regional  Gandhi memorial museums in India.