Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural Sciences, Anthropology, and Ethnography

Founded at Moscow University in 1863 originally as the Society of Natural Scientists, in the next year A. P. Bogdanov, Professor of Zoology and Anthropology at Moscow University and the empire’s foremost anthropologist, added the “anthropology” section. In 1868 it sponsored the famous expedition to Turkestan led by Alexei Fedchenko and his wife Rosa, a respected botanist; they made two more such trips. In 1871 it established a museum, sponsored by Grand Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich. Its most prominent member, D. N. Anuchin, served as president 1890-1923, and was also prominently connected to Praskovia Uvarova and the archeological congresses.