The Summerland Museum and Archives Society has its roots with the Summerland Museum Group, which organized regular meetings for two years after its founding in 1965. The group began collecting artifacts, which were stored in personal homes.
The Society was registered under the B.C. Societies Act in 1969 as the Summerland Museum & Arts Society, and two years later the first official museum opened in a small, cement-block addition to the Summerland arena. When the arena was demolished in 1975, the cement-block addition was deemed inadequate, and artifacts were returned to storage.
The Museum saw new life in 1976, when a second museum was opened in the Kettle Valley Railway Station. This building was located some distance from downtown however, and an alternative was sought.
A third museum opened in 1984 in a purpose built structure provided by the Municipality. The Museum remains in that building today. The name of the society changed in 1992 to the Summerland Museum & Heritage Society, and again in 2016 to the present Summerland Museum & Archives Society.
