This special ethnos is a result of the merger of the local Ket-speaking and foreign Turkic-speaking tribes. Historians believe that the formation of the Shor people began in the 17th century, when the Kuznetsky uyezd emerged. At the same time, when the Russians began to actively develop the upper reaches of the Tom River, the first mentions of the Shors or, as they are also called, Kuznetskie Tatars appeared. 

Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the Shor people lived according to their traditional way of life with some of the remains of the clan community preserved. Production was mainly of household level, and trades - pottery, weaving, leather and woodworking - were mainly plied by women. One of the most important trades of the Shors was blacksmithing, as well as metal mining and processing. However, when the territory of their residence became part of the Russian Empire that trade fell into disrepair. 

This abyl was discovered by Georgy Blynskiy, one of the founders of the Novokuznetsk Ethnography Museum, an inventor and local historian. He was born in Kuznetsk, and spent his childhood and youth in a gold mine, where he worked as a mine foreman. In 1917, Blynskiy moved to Prokopyevsk and joined the exploration work at the local field deposit. 

In 1920, he returned to Kuznetsk and took a position as the head of Abashevsky mine. It was then that Blynskiy made friends with Dmitry Yaroslavtsev, a lover of the antique, and helped him enlarge and systematize an extensive collection of findings. Together the researchers described the flora, fauna and sources of minerals in the vicinity of Kuznetsk. 

After Yaroslavtsev’s death, his collection passed to Blynskiy. On November 7, 1927, the latter donated his house and collection to the city. This date is generally accepted to be the day of foundation of the Novokuznetsk Ethnography Museum.