Abstract: The article discusses the process of creating and developing a library and museum as part of the educational and scientific material base of the Cabinet of Geography at the Department of Geography and Ethnography of Imperial Kazan University. From the annual reports on the activities of the Department it can be seen that the acquisition of the Library with new editions, and the Ethnographic Museum with collections, was systematic. These processes were interconnected and aimed at creating a high-quality integrated material base for the development of the educational and scientific process. The article emphasizes that the leading role in the processes of forming the library and museum belonged to the head of the Department of Geography and Ethnography, Petr Ivanovich Krotov and Bruno Friedrichovich Adler. Peter Krotov created the Cabinet of Geography. Bruno Adler improved and developed not only the Cabinet of Geography itself, but also ethnographic science in the Volga Region and Russia as a whole. For example, having academic ties with Russian and foreign scientists, Bruno Adler received many publications and subjects for the Cabinet of Geography as a gift. This allowed for the year to increase several times, both the library and the museum under the Cabinet of Geography. The scientifically organized cabinet, which has comprehensive collections and professional literature, has become a quality source base for the development of ethnographic science at Kazan University.