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Audrey Patricia MacKay Shane was born on August 27, 1922 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received a diploma in Interior Design from the University of Manitoba in 1942 and worked for the Department of Architecture and Fine Arts at the University for the next three years. In the period between 1962 and 1970, she served in voluntary roles such as secretary of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and treasurer of the Manitoba Archaeological Society. In 1974, Shane received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia (UBC). A year later, she was hired as Archivist/Librarian at the Museum of Anthropology, a position she held until she was appointed Curator of Documentation in 1979. As Archivist/Librarian, Shane was responsible for the documentation of the Museum’s collections for inclusion in the National Inventory of Canada as well as for the cataloguing of the collections.

Shane completed her M.A. in Anthropology in UBC in 1978. Her primary interest was in the art and material culture of the northern Northwest Coast, China, Japan and the Insular Pacific before the 20th century. As the Curator of Documentation, Shane’s responsibilities included ensuring the accurate permanent catalogue records were created and maintained for the Museum’s collections, interpreting the Museum’s collections to the public and students through exhibits, publications, university and community teaching, and representing the museum on a local and international level. She taught a series of laboratory sessions in the Anthropology course, Museum Principles and Methods, a course offered by UBC’s Department of Anthropology and also conducted lectures and seminars for the Museum’s volunteers. Shane has written various scholarly articles and presented many papers in numerous conferences. Her published articles include “Sensibilities: Unsuspected Multicultural Harmonies” which appeared in the March/April 1983 issue of Canadian Collector, “Power in Their Hands: the Gitsontk,” which was published in The Tsimshian: Images of the Past Views for the Present and “Networking: the Canadian Experience,” a paper published for the Western Museum Conference in 1983. Shane has also curated a number of exhibitions and served on the Acquisitions and Collections Committees within the Museum. In addition, she was active in committees formed by professional associations such as the British Columbia Museum Association Committee on Legal and Ethical Questions. She also assumed the role of Signing Expert Examiner in Ethnography for the Canadian Cultural Property Export and Import Board. Shane retired from her position at the Museum in 1987.