In this article, the authors attempted a systematic analysis of the works of pre-revolutionary Russian researchers of the mid-XIX century identified by them from the Fund of rare books and manuscripts of
the National public library. A. Navoi of Tashkent. The works of pre-revolutionary Russian researchers of the colonial period cover the traditional way of life, life and culture, economy, occupations, beliefs of nomadic Kazakhs. Rich information historical and ethnographic information about the Kazakhs is contained in the multi-volume work "Turkestan collection", which has a number of meaningful and important information about the Kazakh people. The authors of this publication have widely used the materials of this source in the preparation of this work.