Anna Butterfield was born and rasied in Knob Knoster, Missouri in 1881 to Maurice and Luvina Butterfield. Newman first came to El Paso in 1902 and believed have met her husband,Charles Moorehead Newman on the Newman Family Ranch in Northeast El Paso. The Newman was a prominent farming family and land developers in El Paso.
Charles developed a residential area across Newman Park . They lived on 2001 Altura in Central El Paso and they had one son,Charles M. Jr. The Newman’s married in 1919. Charles Sr. died in 1941.
Anna help organized “Bundles for Britain” during WWII at the Turney Home at 1205 Montana,which in 1947 became the home of the El Paso International Art Museum. Charles Sr. was a organizer of the museum and served as the first president of the El Paso International Art Museum Association ,which was granted a charter by the state in 1930. The Turney Home came in possession of the association in 1945,but did not open until 1945. In 1947, Anna was appointed the first curator .
As curator, she was credited for help to organize the museum,acquiring artifacts and planning exhibits,when the museum had no existing funds. Anna organized monthly programs at the museum and put on dinners and invited people interested in promoting and being involved in the museum.
Newman helped build the museum to serve as a cultural center in El Paso. In 1957, Anna and a maid was tied up in the museum,when a young man broke in the museum and took several items of value. However Anna continued her work until her death in 1959. Mrs Robert R. Bowie was her assistant.
Newman was a descendant of John Butterfield , the name stake for the Butterfield Wagon Trail route.
-Joseph Longo
