Newell G. Bringhurst (born 3 April 1942) is an American historian and author of books and essays. Most of his writings have been about Mormonism— particularly topics and figures of controversy, such as blacks and the priesthood, Fawn Brodie, polygamy, and schisms within the LDS movement[1]

Newell G. Bringhurst
Born (1942-04-03) 3 April 1942 (age 82)
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Professor, author
Years active1978–present
EmployerCollege of the Sequoias

Bringhurst taught history and political science for 35 years at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, and is now a professor emeritus.[2]

Biography

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Bringhurst was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Utah in 1965, and completed his master's degree studies in 1967 with a thesis on George H. Dern.[3]

Bringhurst became a history department lecturer at San Jose State University in 1972, where he taught for three years. He was awarded a Ph.D. in history from the University of California at Davis in 1975. He was hired the following year by Boise State University as an instructor of history. He joined the faculty at Indiana University at Kokomo as an assistant professor of history in 1977.[1][2]

Bringhurst joined the Mormon History Association in 1972, and served as its president in 1999–2000. He was appointed as MHA Historian in 2002. He has been involved with The John Whitmer Historical Association since the mid-1970s, and served as its president from 2005 to 2006.[2]

Personal life

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Bringhurst has been married since the mid-1970s, and has one daughter. He has expressed an enjoyment for hiking and other outdoor activities.[2]

Bringhurst has been described as a "cultural Mormon and a liberal Democrat".[4]

Accolades

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In 2005, the John Whitmer Historical Association's Special Book Award was granted to Bringhurst and his co-editor Lavina Fielding Anderson for Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century.[2]

In 2021, Bringhurst received the Leonard J. Arrington Lifetime Contribution Award from the Mormon History Association.[5]

Publication

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Books

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  • Bringhurst, Newell G. (1981). Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-22752-7. Book 4 of the Contributions to the Study of Religion Series
  • Bringhurst, Newell G. (1986). Handlin, Oscar (ed.). Brigham Young And The Expanding American Frontier. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-10822-7. Library of American Biography Series. Republished on 24 January 1997 by Longman. ISBN 0-673-39322-4.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G., ed. (1 August 1996). Reconsidering No Man Knows My History: Fawn M. Brodie and Joseph Smith in Retrospect. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. ISBN 0-874-21214-6.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G. (1999). Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer's Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-806-13181-0.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Mitchell, Annie R. (foreword) (2000). Visalia's Fabulous Fox: A Theatre Story. Visalia, CA: Jostens Printing and Publishing. ISBN 0-967-54820-9. A history of the Visalia Fox theater (1928-2000)
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Anderson, Lavina Fielding, eds. (31 May 2004). Excavating Mormon Pasts: The New Historiography of the Last Half Century. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books. ISBN 1-589-58091-5.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Smith, Darron T., eds. (2004). Black and Mormon. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02947-X.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Hamer, John C., eds. (10 September 2007). Scattering Of The Saints: Schism Within Mormonism. Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1-934-90102-1.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Foster, Craig L. (1 January 2008). The Mormon Quest for the Presidency: From Joseph Smith to Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1-934-90111-3. Expanded and updated volume released on 11 September 2011. ISBN 1-934-90109-1.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Foster, Craig L., eds. (1 November 2010). The Persistence of Polygamy: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy. Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1-934-90113-7.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Foster, Craig L., eds. (23 September 2013). The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 2: From Joseph Smith's Martyrdom to the First Manifesto, 1844-1890. Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1-934-90114-4.
  • Bringhurst, Newell G.; Foster, Craig L., eds. (11 September 2015). The Persistence of Polygamy, Vol. 3: Fundamentalist Mormon Polygamy from 1890 to the Present. Independence, Missouri: John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1-934-90119-9.
  • Harris, Matthew L.; Bringhurst, Newell G., eds. (4 November 2015). The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-08121-7.

Essays and articles

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Newell G. Bringhurst papers, 1849-2015". Archives West. Orbis Cascade Alliance. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Newell Bringhurst". FairMormon. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  3. ^ Essay of Fall 2002, pp 201–202.
  4. ^ Bringhurst, Newell G.; Foster, Craig L. (2010). The Persistence of Polygamy: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy—'About the Author'. John Whitmer Books. ISBN 978-1934901137.
  5. ^ Stuart, Joseph (June 15, 2021). "MHA 2021 Awards". Juvenile Instructor. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
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