The article is devoted to the Russian researcher of China and Manchuria Alexei Osipovich (Iosifovich) Ivanovsky (1863–1903) and his “Materials for the History of Native Tribes in Southwestern China” (in three books) published in 1887 and 1889. The article describes the historical context, which motivated the creation of encyclopedias and albums with information about the aboriginal peoples living in different areas of the Chinese empire and beyond. Life and work of A.O. Ivanovsky have been studied insufficiently; therefore, the article describes his biography with detailed indication of sources concerning life and contribution of this researcher. It is concluded that throughout his scientific career the researcher was engaged in collecting and classifying various knowledge related to China: he wrote a dictionary and biographical articles for large encyclopedias, during his trip to China he collected samples of the Solon and Dahurian languages, studying the peoples of southwestern China he also adhered to the principle of accumulating the maximum possible number of sources on the subject under study. The article analyzes his monograph "Materials for the History of Native Tribes in Southwestern China" in two aspects: 1) Used key sources (Chinese encyclopedias, geographical descriptions, dynastic histories, local gazetteers); 2) Described peoples, generally termed by names “Mani” and “Liao”, as well as using names derived from these two terms. The structure of the text is characterized by heterogeneity, such as: 1) the first volume uses chronological principle, it covers the period from antiquity to the end of the Song dynasty; the third volume covers the period of the three dynasties (Yuan, Ming and Qing). 2) the second volume uses the territorial principle, the second book is divided into 3 chapters, each is discussing the provinces Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. The publication of the text itself and its content were affected by the financial and organizational difficulties experienced by the author. The article is accompanied by a table compiled to illustrate the work of A.O. Ivanovsky with one of the Chinese sources, “miao album” illustrating peoples of Yunnan "Illustrated Description of the Peoples of the South and West of Yunnan Province" (preface 1837), republished by Saint-Petersburg University Press in 2020.