The article examines the activities of museums in preserving the cultural and historical heritage in the museums of Stavropol and the Caucasus Mineral Waters. That time museums continued their work and actively documented the processes that took place in the region at the turning point. The collection of the Central People's Museum named after M. V. Prave during that period expanded due to the accession of collections taken from the museums closed by new authorities for ideological reasons (Museum of the 83rd Samursky Regiment, Diocesan Church and Archaeological Museum). The fate of the Military History Museum "The Temple of Glory" is also of interest. The dynamics of the development of the museum network of the region, the opening of museums of a new type - the museums of the revolution in Pyatigorsk and Kislovodsk - are shown. A significant event was the merger of the Museum of the North Caucasus and the Museum named after M. V. Prave on the basis of the latter. The changes that took place in the country caused a change in the content of museum expositions; the leading place was occupied by the propaganda of the new political system and the demonstration of the improvement of the quality of life of the country's population after the revolution. The main activity was mass educational work. The vector of museum collecting work changed as due to the fact that the role of the museum shifted to the one of a mass educational institution it became occasional.