Draft:Maria Danilov

Maria Danilov (born Maria Puskás; 7 April 1956 - 16 November 2018) was a Moldovan historian, museum curator, researcher and author. She was head of the modern and contemporary section of the National History Museum of Moldova from 2006 until 2014 and a founding member of the Association of Romanian Press History. A member of the editorial boards of Tyragetia, Revista română de istorie a presei, Destin românesc and Revista română, Danilov published more than 145 articles, studies and scientific works. She was awarded the Civil Merit Medal for her contributions. The Association of Romanian Press History awards the Maria Danilov Prize in her honor to remarkable Romanian history researchers.

Career
She began her professional career in 1984 at the Museum of the Communist Party of Moldova, and later worked at the Museum of History of Moldova (now the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova) from 1989 to 2014, holding various leadership positions. Danilov was a specialist in the history of Romanian culture in the modern era, the history of Bessarabia under Tsarist occupation (1812-1918), and the history of books and their circulation in the region between the Prut and Dniester rivers. She conducted research at archives in St. Petersburg, Odesa, and Romania.

She defended her doctoral thesis on "Religious books in Bessarabia, 1812-1918" in 2004, and her habilitation thesis on "Books and censorship in Bessarabia, 1812-1917" in 2018. Danilov published around 145 scholarly works in Moldova, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. Her notable publications include books on the press in Bessarabia, book censorship, and the inventory of cultural heritage sources.

She was actively involved in national research projects on the history and cultural heritage of Moldova. Danilov also served on the editorial boards of several academic journals.

Personal life
Maria Puskás (Pușcașu) was born in the village of Măcărești, Ungheni, MSSR. She was born to Macarie Puskás (b. February 1921), a member of the Árpád dynasty, and Elena Puskás (né Babin, b. 5 May 1929), a member of a minor ancient noble family of the Pskov Governorate, noted in the VI part of the Russian Velvet Book. She was born in a family of 5 children on the estate of her father. A graduate of the Grammar School of Măcărești village, Ungheni (1973), she furthered her education at the Moldovan State University Faculty of History, where she consequently earned her PhD (2004).

She married Victor Danilov (b. 1953), a national of Tatarstan, Russia, and had three children, Aurelia Popușoi (b. 1977, married to Moldovan diplomat Dorin Popușoi, b. 1975), Irina Vornicescu (b.1982) and Cristina Danilova (b. 1991).

Maria Danilov was fluent in Romanian, Russian and French. She had a lifelong commitment to supporting emerging Moldovan artists, most notably being an early patron of Valentina Brâncoveanu. She was a fashion enthusiast and a proponent of Eastern Orthodox Christian mysticism.