John W. Fitzgerald spent the majority of his adult life as a professional educator. He served both as a seminary teacher in the L.D.S. Church, and as a principal in Salt Lake County's Granite School District. He also served professionally as a chaplain in the United States Army during World War II and continued this service with the Utah National Guard until his retirement in 1967. During his adult life Fitzgerald was a student of history and of the social policies that surrounded him. Through this constant intellectual activity he came to question the L.D.S. Church's position on not allowing black men into the priesthood. He became both an informed and a critical observer of this issue. Fitzgerald was excommunicated from the L.D.S. Church, in the early 1970s for this criticism. Fitzgerald was also openly active in other social issues of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, as can be seen through his personal writings. His papers are a compilation of the above experiences and of items from his family and historical interests. Although the black issue carries a major undertone in the collection, the papers are also rich in Fitzgerald's personal observations and his personal writings.
From the guide to the John Williams Fitzgerald papers, 1876-1985, (Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives)
