Аннотация
In this article, based on archival sources, the latest literature examines the history of creation, research, local history activities of a number of Russian imperial scientific and local history societies of the post-reform period. The novelty of this article lies in the attempt to systematically analyze the history of the creation, the results of scientific and publishing geographic, archival, archaeological, statistical societies operating in the territory of imperial Central Asia. The study of the results of research activities of local history societies has led to the conclusion that pre-revolutionary scientific societies have made a significant contribution to the scientific study of Central Asia.