Carl Landrum Historical Bands Collection, 1845-2010 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Carl Landrum (1916-2003) was born in Quincy, IL. He graduated from Quincy College, and after serving in the military, working as a musician, and teaching in Ursa and Lewistown, MO, returned to Quincy and became the band and orchestra director at Quincy Notre Dame school, and the director of the Quincy Park Band, which he founded in 1948. After becoming interested in history by participating in the Civil War centenntial celebrations, in 1965 he started writing a local history column in the Quincy Herald-Whig, "From Quincy's Past." A year later, he published his first book, titled Quincy and the Civil War.

Landrum continued directing the Quincy Park Band until 1993, and wrote ten additional books on local history, including his last book on the musical life of Quincy, published posthumously by his wife, Shirley Landrum, in 2010.