Aleksandra (Sanja) Lazarević was born in Podgorica (Montenegro) in 1921. She graduated from the classics high school in Zagreb in 1941. In 1952 she took a degree in ethnology from Faculty of Philosophy of Zagreb University and in 1978 a doctorate, having written her thesis on the Geographical and Ethnological Research of the Seljan Brothers in Ethiopia and South America. From 1949 to 1952 she was a curator in the Museum of the Serbs in Croatia, and from 1952 worked in the Ethnographic Museum Zagreb as educator, and in 1965 took over the founding and running of the Non-European Cultures Department.
She spent a lot of time in extending her knowledge in the museums of America and Europe, and also resided in several African countries - Senegal, Ethiopia and Mali.
She is the author of the excellent permanent display of non-European lands in the Ethnographic Museum Zagreb. She also put the whole archive of the Seljan brothers in order. Her exhibition activity is extensive and significant.
She gave numerous lecturrs, took part in ethnology and anthropology conferences at home and abroad. She was an active member of professional bodies and international associations. She was awarded the Gorjanović Kramberger Plaque for her work, the Ethnia Certificate of the anthropological centre of the Colombian mission in Bogota, which she consulted with, as well as the Pavao Ritter Vitezović Prize of the Croatian Museum Association for lifetime achievement.
Her bibliography covers more than 135 entries comprising her important professional and scholarly oeuvre.

NB. Data taken from the questionnaire, material taken from the Personnel Archives of the MDC, and from an interview recorded on February 22, 2002.