User:Jgbarrett/Anne Evans

Anne Evans  (1871-1941), was a pioneer in the development of Denver’s cultural institutions. She was involved in the development of the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Public Library, the restoration of the Central City Opera House and the initiation of the Central City Summer Festival. As a member of the Denver Municipal Art Commission, she was an aide to Mayor Robert W. Speer in the creation of the Civic Center, Denver, the centerpiece of his transformation of Denver into a City Beautiful.

As the daughter of John Evans (governor)the founder of Denver University, Anne Evans contributed to the development of that institution’s art and theatre departments. She was also known for quietly helping talented local artists like Allen Tupper True, Frank Mechau, Margaret Van Waganan {Mrs. Dudley Carpenter}, and New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem. The daughter of devout Methodists, Anne Evans became a spiritual seeker. "All the world's religions," she is quoted as saying, "I want to know about all of them." Her quest eventually led her to become an active member of the Theosophical Society in America. One of the principles expressed by the Society's founder was particularly compatible with Anne Evans' own convictions: that any good a person does in this world must be done for its own sake, without desire for riches or fame or rewards of any kind.

Thanks to her mother, Anne Evans was fortunate in having a guaranteed modest income and so was able to devote herself wholeheartedly to the causes about which she cared so passionately. She did not feel the need to be the head of any organization – she was willing to serve in any capacity, often behind the scenes. One of her special abilities was in spotting just the right person for a particular office or job for which her recommendation carried weight. Resigning as Chairman of the Denver Public Library Commission in favor of Frederick Ross, appointing Eric Douglas as the first full-time Curator of the DAM Native Arts department, choosing Frank Ricketson to lead the Central City Opera House Association after her death.

In contemporary terms, Anne Evans' would be a superb networker. She was a vital, exuberant person who was fun to work with, and she used her connections to maximum advantage. When necessary - and this was particularly true of the years she was creating the Central City Festival in the middle of the Great Depression – she could be a formidable fundraiser. In the photograph on the right, Anne is networking with Colorado governor Ralph Carr.



Anne Evans was one of a small Denver group which had an early appreciation of the value of Native American art as art of the highest order; recognizing it as far more than colorful pieces with which to decorate a summer cabin. The group's members saw it as art worthy of being collected by connoisseurs and placed in art museums side by side with the art of any other culture. Anne Evans had a deep respect for the values of Puebloan peoples and culture, which is revealed in some of her surviving writings.

She donated her own art collection to establish the Native American Art Department at the Denver Art Museum. Anne Evans was an early leader in the movement to preserve Spanish missions in New Mexico (Acoma, San José de Gracia Church, Zia Pueblo, Laguna Pueblo, Santa Ana Pueblo), with architect John Gaw Meem the leader and founder of Pueblo Revival Style architecture movement. Anne Evans became a collector of Santos (art) and retablo which were also donated to the Denver Art Museum and helped initiate the development of its current collection.

Born to a position of privilege in the young city of Denver, Anne was the daughter of John Evans (governor), the second Territorial Governor of Colorado, and his highly educated New England wife, Margaret Gray Evans. Anne’s education included years in Paris and Berlin, and as a student at the Art Students League of New York. Anne exhibited a talent for painting but eventually refocused her efforts on transforming Denver's cutlural landscape. She devoted herself to volunteer efforts for the causes about which she cared passionately. She never married, but lived out her life as part of the household of her older brother, William Evans, in the spacious home that is now the Byers-Evans House Museum, a property of History Colorado. Anne Evans also had a great zest for the playful side of life. This she was able to indulge on the Evans Ranch in the mountains west of Denver, where she built her own unique mountain cabin.