Nikola Kosanović was born in Voćin in 1916. He did normal school in Osijek, and then studied at Zagreb University, Faculty of Philosophy, history major. For a long time he was a history teacher in various schools, and in 1963 was appointed to the Museum of Slavonia, where he remained until retirement.
For nine years he was curator of the History Department, and for the last eight years of his career was director of the Museum of Slavonia, Osijek.
As curator of the History Department he worked on putting the collecting in order, completely reorganising and modernising the permanent display. After taking over the responsibilities of director, he spent most of his working time on the repair and modernisation of the building of the museum and the remodelling of parts of it. Some of his major achievements include the remodelling and putting in order of the building and the marking of the 1st centenary of the Museum of Slavonia, Osijek, as well as the organisation of an international conference to accompany the big exhibition 100 Years of the Foundation and Work of the Museum of Slavonia, at which written documents and photographs of the history of the Museum were shown and the work of each of the departments was presented.
Nikola Kosanović published papers in Osječki zbornik, of which he was for some time the editor. He spent time studying the working class movement in Slavonia up to the coming of Ban Khuen Hedervary to power, wrote about the inscriptions and decorative elements on Oriental cold steel in the Museum of Slavonia, on the evolution of settlements in Slavonia, on guilds and decorative elements associated with the guilds. He is the author and editor of a memorial volume of the Osijek Fire Service, 100 Years of the Volunteer Fire Association in Osijek-Upper Town.
He took part in a number of important conferences and symposia. In preparation for the press is a publication bringing together his work entitled Articles and Accounts from the Past of My City.
For his work he was decorated with the Order of Merit for the People.

NB. Data taken from the questionnaire, material taken from the Personnel Archives of the MDC, and from an interview recorded on October 20, 2004.