By the 1990s, Butterworth was working as the town historian and served on the committee planning events for the sesquicentennial of West Hartford. In 1995, she attended the World Conference on Women, hosted in Beijing. To give a more balanced history of West Hartford, she wrote a book in 1997, researched by Sally Whipple, to relate the history of African American contributions to the community. Her book, as well as an earlier town history by Ellsworth Grant, were eventually published in 2001 as "Celebrate! West Hartford: An illustrated history", when Richard "Dick" Woodworth joined them to help get the stalled project to press. In 2008, she wrote her memoirs, never intending them for publication, but in 2010 "Just Say Yes" was published. In 2018, "Lull Before the Storm" taken from her diary kept during her 1938 trip to Heidelberg became Butterworth's fourth book.