The article describes purposeful political initiatives for the formation of civil society institutions and the necessity of putting more scientific attention to the problems of their development in modern realities is justified. Their significance as an important element in the system of interaction with authorities on the examples of existing public associations of historians and on realization of actual objectives in the sphere of education and science is grounded. It was concluded that the establishment and operation of public associations of professional historians correspond to the trends of socio-political and ideological democratization of independent Kazakhstan and the principles of the state «historical policy». It was highlighted that communities perform not only scientific, but also important social functions – advisory, attitudinal and educational. The directions and subjects for further study of problems and tasks of modern historical science, features of functioning of formal and informal corporations of professional historians of Kazakhstan are proposed.