Arminta Neal

Arminta "Skip" Neal was an American artist, veteran, exhibit designer, and author whose career was closely tied to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, then known as the Denver Museum of Natural History. The museum says she worked there from 1950 to 1982, helping design exhibitions and contributing to projects including the museum's Hall of Man. Archival records also describe her as an exhibit designer whose papers include research notes, sketches, photographs, and correspondence.

As a writer, Neal is known for books such as Exhibits for the Small Museum and Cigar-Box Dioramas, works that reflect her practical, maker-friendly approach to display and interpretation. Those books suggest the same strengths that marked her museum career: careful craftsmanship, visual storytelling, and a desire to make creative work approachable for others.

What makes her especially memorable is the range of that life. Museum sources celebrate her not only as a designer and author, but also as a veteran and a person whose long career left a real mark on exhibition design. Even in brief records, she comes across as someone who combined imagination with hands-on skill and used both to help people see the past more vividly.