The article is devoted to the problems of completing collections on the history and culture of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia on the example of the Central State Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The problem of scientific acquisition and processing of museum valuables is one of the most important problems of modern museology. Ethnographic collections play an important role in the promotion of national culture and its preservation. Their importance is especially increasing in our time, when traditional cultural objects are rapidly disappearing from the real life of peoples, and the practice of their research is disappearing. Ethnographic collections are also an important base for the development of scientific research. This article describes the composition of collections on the history and culture of the above-mentioned ethnic groups. At the same time, the main attention is paid to the peculiarities and factors of the formation of ethnographic collections, as well as to the identification of common and specific elements in the structure of traditional objects of these peoples in the context of interethnic interaction. The author concludes that the museum's ethnographic collections reflect various aspects of the traditional and everyday culture of peoples, and also notes that such factors as the organization of scientific and collecting expeditions, the purchase of things from private individuals, and the involvement of civil servants of the local administration had a significant impact on the formation of museum collections.