In 1984, the Argentine Historical and Social Memory Foundation called for the creation of a "House of the Disappeared" in which all of the documentation related to state terrorism would be collected.

“At first we conceived of it as a place to store documents and then later as a place from where we could disseminate information to the rest of society--to reveal what had happened, to show how it really was, and to display items that proved it so. Because one of the realities we were dealing with was that people didn't believe us...you would start to talk about how your children had been taken away they would answer, "You're lying"...even our relatives and people who knew us well, who knew my children said, "Are you sure? Aren't they in Europe? Maybe they just left." And I thought, "How can they say that? How can they believe that?" You wanted to die... and so I thought that if there were so many people like this, one way or another, I had to show them, to throw the truth back in their faces so that they wouldn't keep believing. And so we thought that a place like this would serve to reveal the truth and to prove that everything we had been through and everything that we were talking about was real.”

(Ilda Micucci, Argentine Historical and Social Memory Foundation)

This proposal was discussed among various human rights organizations. By that time, however, the search for truth and justice had become the main objective of many victims' relatives and organizations. Argentine society was still opening its eyes to what had happened--the CONADEP report had just come out--and many sectors of society continued to deny the crimes. In the context of these two contradictory realities, it proved too difficult to embark on an initiative that intended to reconstruct memory in such a direct way.

Years later, Eduardo Jozami and Raúl Fernández, then members of the Concejo Deliberante (what is today the Legislature) of Buenos Aires, called on human rights organizations to draft a legislative proposal for the creation of a museum. For many, this is recognized as the first step toward the creation of a museum, as the previous attempt had not gained much attention. Every organization took part in this project, and in 1990 Resolution 50.318 formally initiated the process to create a Museum of Memory, "dedicated to reconstruct, protect and nurture collective memory on the horrors of state terrorism, which devastated Argentina." As the resolution did not have the power of a law, it would remain a valuable antecedent that would only be realized years later.

“When we (Relatives of Persons Disappeared and Detained for Political Reasons) were told about the Museum we thought, 'A museum? How can we build a museum?' It seemed somewhat antiquated. How could our problem be kept in a museum? Well, we went anyway and we saw a proposal for something that we had never thought could become a Museum...and we changed our minds. Because for us a Museum was something static, a place with rooms with objects hanging on the walls, like in the Argentine History Museum, where there are all kinds of things with a short text explaining what it is and that's it.”

(Mabel Penette de Gutiérrez, Relatives of Persons Disappeared and Detained for Political Reason)

In 1996 when the city of Buenos Aires gained autonomy, various human rights organizations approached the legislature again, calling for a law that effectively created a Museum. This attempt did not advance, however, because according to the city constitution, the creation of an institution such a museum would fall under the direction of the executive branch and could only be presented to the city council by the head of state.

Parallel to the above-mentioned initiative and through the same Resolution 50.318, legislation was passed creating the "Nunca Mas Museum of Memory". Though its organizers were able to carry out some preliminary activities, the initiative remained a relatively unknown and isolated entity. It did not call on the participation of human rights organizations or other NGOs engaged in similar work and thus its existence was fleeting.

During the administration of Secretary of Culture Teresa Anchorena, the movement to create a museum gained new strength. In March 2000 Resolution 131 established a "Working Commission for the Creation of a Museum of Memory." This commission, formally named "The Never Again Memory Institute," worked throughout 1999 and into the first months of 2000 to develop the thematic and organizational structure of the future museum. Once again it proved difficult to reconcile the disparate views and draft a legislative proposal that would hold a consensus among participants. Nonetheless, the Institute succeeded in ratifying Law 392/2000, which designated the buildings of the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) as the site of the future museum.

In 2000, representatives of human rights organizations worked together with city officials to elaborate a proposal for the creation of a museum. The proposal for a "Space for Memory" was presented to the legislature by the City Governor, Aníbal Ibarra, on August 13, 2001.

From the beginning, it was important to preserve the autonomy of the new institution to guarantee the fulfilment of its mission and the development of institutional policies. The Museum's governing structure will strongly represent civil society through the participation of human rights organizations and public figures respected for their commitment to the goals of the Museum.

On December 5, 2002, the Buenos Aires city legislature passed Law 961, creating the Institute, "Space for Memory." This was an important step in the long journey toward the creation of a Museum.

For many years, human rights organizations have called for the recovery of historic sites related to the history of the period of state terrorism. Their goal is to transform these sites into places that contribute to the articulation of a collective memory-one that values respect for life.

The Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) is a symbol of the crimes committed by the state during the dictatorship. Its name and image are recognized in this country and throughout the world. For this reason many believe that ESMA should be the site of the future Museum of Memory.

In 2000, human rights organizations carried out a petition campaign calling on then President Fernando De la Rúa to designate ESMA as the official site of the future museum. During De la Rúa's visit to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Sara Bloomfield, Director of the Museum, reiterated this mandate publicly.

During the same year, the Buenos Aires city legislature ratified Law 392, calling for a resolution to the dispute between the city and the national government to ensure that, "the buildings which made up the Navy Mechanics School would be designated as the site of the Museum of Memory."

The administration of President Nestor Kirchner confirmed the restitution of the site for December 31st of 2004. Towards this purpose, on March 24th, 2004 an agreement was signed between the Buenos Aires city government and the National government to work together towards the construction of a “Space for Memory and for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights”, that will operate at the ESMA.