This article is devoted to one of imperial Russia’s learned societies, the Society of Friends of Science, Anthropology and Ethnography, or OLEAE by its Russian initials, and to its most visible enterprise, the Moscow Polytechnical Museum. Based primarily on the minutes of the meetings of OLEAE and of the museum organizing committee, the article attempts to rescue from oblivion both OLEAE and the Polytechnical Museum. The article examines the mission of the founders of OLEAE, the relationship between OLEAE and the government, and the role of a private association in the foundation of an enterprise on the scale of the Polytechnical Museum. The first part of the article places OLEAE and the museum in a larger European context. The grand museums of science, industry and the arts were a hallmark of the modern city and a vehicle for the dissemination of science, what economic historian Joel Mokyr calls the «industrial enlightenment.» They came about owing to the mobilization of resources by governments, associations, municipalities, the business community, and private philanthropists. To many contemporaries, such museums displayed the wonders of applied science and industrial design to the public. The second part of the article establishes the origins and mission of OLEAE. Founded in the heart of the Era of the Great Reforms by professors at Moscow University, OLEAE stated that its goal was public science, the «democratization of science.» Like many learned societies in imperial Russia, OLEAE received the endorsement and patronage of the government. For its part, OLEAE thought of its goals and those of the government as one in the same—the betterment of Russia. The last part of the article examines the founding and early years of the Polytechnical Museum, founded in 1872. The Polytechnical Museum became one component of a rapidly growing «scientific potential» of Russian society. The founders of the museum strove to disseminate applied knowledge by means of visibility and publicity. In the conclusion, I argue that the Polytechnical Museum was an ambitious enterprise that not only helped stimulate public science. Founded by scientists who framed their projects in terms of a public, the museum helped create a public. In the eyes of its founders, the Polytechnical Museum was a patriotic endeavor that enhanced national prestige and civic pride. It enabled Moscow to display distinction and gain recognition as a center of industry and learning. Finally, although OLEAE functioned within a very restricted framework, its many scientific enterprises encouraged private initiative. As the product of collaboration between private associations, the municipality, and the state, the museum was an example of a budding civil society in action.