Glenn Conrad was born September 3, 1932 in New Iberia, LA. He received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University (1953), and a Master of Arts in History (1959). During his career, he served first as an editor for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He later taught history at Southern State Colorado and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) from 1958 to 1991. From 1973-1993, Conrad served as the director of the Center of Louisiana Studies at USL in Lafayette, LA. In addition to serving on the board of directors for the Attakapas Historical Association and the Louisiana Historical Association, he served as secretary-treasurer for the LHA and edited its journal, "Louisiana History". He served as chairman of the state review committee of the National Register of Historic Places and was a member of the Southern Historical Association, French Historical Society, Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Commission, New Iberia Bicentennial of the Founding, New Iberia Sesquicentennial of Incorporation, and the New Iberia Historic District Commission. He participated in various collaborative projects to further the history and preservation of Louisiana and its culture, such as the Women in Louisiana Collection, the State Historical Marker Program, the Historical Dramatization Project, the Acadiana Documentation Project, the Montpellier Colloquium, Acadian Village, the Louisiana Colonial Records Project, the U.S. Oral History Project, the Plaquemines Parish Project, the Historic Districts Commission, the Vermilionville Project, the St. Martin Parish Project, and the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial celebration in 2003. He served as the town historian for New Iberia, LA, which resulted in his collection of genealogical information and photographs on New Iberia families, as well as the creation of numerous essays on New Iberia history.

He authored and edited numerous books including "French Louisiana: A Commemoration of the French Revolution Bicentennial" (1989), "Land Records of the Attakapas District" (1990), "The Attakapas Doomsday Book: Land Grants, Claims, & Confirmations in the Attakapas District, 1764-1826" (1990), "The Road to Louisiana: The Saint Domingue Refugees, 1792-1809" (1992), "Cross, Crozier, & Crucible: A Volume Celebrating the Bicentennial of a Catholic Diocese in La, 1793-1993" (1993), "Crevasse! The 1927 Flood in Acadiana" (1994), "White Gold: A Brief History of the Louisiana Sugar Industry" (1995), "Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Series in Louisiana History, and The French Experience in Louisiana" (1995).

Conrad received various honors including: Distinguished Professor at USL (1978), Daughters of the American Revolution Medal of Honor (1984), the Louisiana Preservation Alliance Education Award (1984), the Historic New Orleans Collection Manuscript Award (1992), Outstanding Civic Service Award from the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce (1993), the McGinty Lifetime Meritorious Service Award for contributions to Louisiana’s history and heritage (1995), Fellow of the Louisiana Historical Association (1999), Humanist of the Year Award from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (2001), and he was inducted into the Acadian Museum as a “Living Legend” (2003).

Conrad died June 4, 2003 in New Iberia after a lengthy illness.