One of the oldest museums in Siberia - the Tobolsk Museum-Reserve - was established on April 8 (20), 1870. It was the initiative of the secretary of the Tobolsk Provincial Statistical Committee Ivan Nikolayevich Yushkov to create the Museum, which was supported by the governor of Tobolsk Andrian Stepanovich Sologub. Yushkov got this Idea while performing the governor’s order - preparing Tobolsk Province for participation in the All-Russian Manufacture Exhibition in 1870. Originally, the museum was a branch of the Provincial Statistical Committee. It was not only a repository of antiquities and relics but also a scientific institution, which foundation laid the grounds of such disciplines as archeology and ethnography.