Bangiya Sahitya Parishad at Acharya Prafullachandra Road was founded in 1893 to support study and research on Bengali language and literature. The Old Manuscript Museum (Puthisala) was established a year later, in 1894, whereas the picture gallery (Chitrasala) was established in 1908. On 24 January 2009, a new Centenary Hall was inaugurated to mark 100 years of the picture gallery.

The Manuscript Museum has 9427 manuscripts in Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi, Assamese, Oriya, Tibetan, Persian, and Ceylonese in its collection. There are manuscripts donated by authors like Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Abdul Karim, Sajanikanta Das, as well as ones collected by the museum from personal collections of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, Desbandhu Chittaranjan Das, and many such notable names. The Manuscript Gallery contains several painted manuscripts. The only available manuscript of Srikrishnakirtan by Badu Chandidas is amongst the collection at the Old Manuscript Museum. Their collection of decorated manuscripts (Chitrita Puthi) includes Laxmaner Saktishel by Dwija Kabichandra and Sahnama in Persian.

The objects of the picture gallery were mostly collected by the Parishad’s assistant secretary Rakhal Das Bandopadhyay. There are statuettes, portraits, and photographs of celebrated writers, as well as a copper plate with Tagore’s signature engraved and his wedding invitation designed by the poet himself. Personalia of many notable personalities are displayed in the picture gallery, among which are a property deed of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay. The Centenary Hall displays sculptures of Manjusree, Bodhisattva, Kalyansundaram, Chamunda etc.from the 11th–13th century, terracotta artefacts, old coins, dolls, textile, and more. 

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