The museum has several functional areas, with the main museum building covering over 13,000 square feet. The displays at the main museum building contains iron-industry content as well as a wide variety of archaeological artifacts. In addition, the museum also houses the Walter B. Jones Centre for Industrial Archaeology and includes an exhibit centre, the 1858 May Plantation Cotton Gin House, a 30-seat theatre, as well as a gift shop. The exhibition centre displays preserved Birmingham's iron-and-steel industrial artifacts over the period from 1930s to the 1960s.