The museum was founded in 1891 on the initiative of Professor Vasily Dokuchaev, who in 1890 proposed to create a natural history museum in Poltava. At the suggestion of V. Dokuchaev's plan of the museum was developed by Mikhail Olekhovskyy. The museum was founded as the Natural and Historical Museum of the Poltava Provincial Land [5], and Mikhail Olekhovskiy was chosen as its head. The basis of the first exposition was the collections collected by the expedition of Professor Dokuchachai.: soil samples — 4 thousand units; rock samples — 500 units; herbarium — up to 800 sheets.