Daniel S. Neuman was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1869. He earned a degree in chemistry from the University of Kiev and then traveled to America with his father. In 1895 he graduated from medical college in Denver and earned his license to practice medicine in Colorado that same year. He married an Irish nurse, Grace Bailey, and their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1898. Eight years later Grace died and he married her sister Frances, also a nurse.

Dr. Neuman had a private practice and was on the faculty of the medical school at the University of Colorado until 1910. His medical specialty was the treatment of eye disease. In 1910 he became a physician with the U.S. Department of Health and Education in Nome, Alaska. His assignment was to conduct research into the cause of an eye disease that inflicted the Inupiat Eskimos. He traced the disease to a parasite in the Inupiats reindeer herd. In 1917 he was appointed to the Board of Medical Examiners for the Territory of Alaska. He also served on the Draft Exemption Board and as Federal Physician for the Nome District.

He wrote and contributed to several books, including the Medical Handbook and Animal Stories From Eskimo Land. Dr. Neuman was an avid collector of Eskimo artifacts and artwork, and was known for his lectures about his extensive collection. He frequently published articles in the Nome monthly magazine, The Eskimo, regarding the Alaskan Eskimos’ life and history. He also collected and compiled Eskimo folk tales which were adapted and published by Renee Riggs, wife of Governor Thomas Riggs, in 1923.

Dr. Neuman left the Arctic in 1920 for health reasons and settled in Juneau where he was active in the Alaska Historical Association. It was during this time period that the Alaska Historical Library and Museum purchased Dr. Neuman’s collection of some 3,000 Yup’ik and Inupiat Eskimo artifacts. This purchase helped establish the first museum in Juneau. Sometime in 1923 ill health forced him to a warmer climate. He settled in Napa, California where he grew grapes and tobacco until he died in 1935.