The article is devoted to the study of the activities of cultural and educational institutions of the Khanty-Mansiysk National Okrug in the 1950s, which is not sufficiently covered in Russian historiography. The relevance of the study is explained by the need to fill this gap based on the analysis of different types of sources. The source base for the study was the materials of the district newspapers "Stalinskaya tribune" and "Leninskaya Pravda", as well as unpublished archival materials introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The work of red tents, red boats, cultural bases, clubs, cinemas, museums, libraries is covered. It is concluded that the areas of activity of cultural and educational institutions in the district were quite diverse, and work with the indigenous population was not limited to education. The factors that negatively influenced the development of cultural and educational activities in the district included the low material and technical base of institutions, the lack of qualified personnel, the remoteness of settlements from each other, and problems with electricity. Cultural institutions had limited resources to organize a full-fledged leisure of the population.