Newell Bringhurst was born on April 3, 1942 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1965 with a B.S. degree after which Newell entered the department of history's graduate program at the U of U completing his master's degree studies in 1967. Bringhurst commenced his academic career in 1972 when he was appointed as a history department lecturer at San Jose State University, a position which he held for three years. Newell was awarded a Ph.D. in history from the University of California at Davis in 1975. A year later Boise State University hired him as an instructor of history. In 1977 Bringhurst joined the faculty at Indiana University at Kokomo as an assistant professor of history. For twenty-five years Newell taught history and political science at the College of the Sequoias which is located in Visalia, California. He is the author and co-editor of twelve books and several articles on the history of the Mormons. In many of his works, Bringhurst has been interested in studying religious and socio-economic institutions, dissenting individuals, and non-conformist ideas. These interests have led him to investigate L.D.S. church racial attitudes and policies and fundamentalist and non-mainstream interactions with the Mormon establishment. Some published examples which reflect these scholarly concerns are , , , , , , and . In 2005 the John Whitmer Historical Association's Special Book Award was granted to Bringhurst and his co-editor Lavina Fielding Anderson. Newell has served as the president of the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association.