Richard Boudreau taught in the English department at UW-La Crosse from 1968 until his
retirement in 1994. Boudreau began his research on Wisconsin authors shortly after he
started teaching in La Crosse with an initial focus on Hamlin Garland, who has a connection
to West Salem. He later expanded his research to include all authors with significant ties
to Wisconsin. In 1986, Boudreau published his work, Literary Heritage
of Wisconsin, Volume I: Beginnings to 1925, which includes selections of songs,
tales, oratory, autobiographical accounts, humor, poetry, and fiction from early Wisconsin
authors. Boudreau looked at over 250 authors and chose over 30 to include in his work.
Notable authors such as Hamlin Garland, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edna Ferber, Zona Gale, and
August Derleth accompany selections from many relatively unknown authors in this first
volume. The second volume of this series was published in 1995 and titled, Literary Heritage of Wisconsin, Volume II, Part A: 1925-1960.
There are 17 notable authors featured in this volume including, Aldo Leopold, Regina
Robinson Heard, Sterling North, and Warren Beck.
Boudreau has presented several radio programs through Wisconsin Public Radio including a
radio course, "Wisconsin's Literary Heritage," that was offered through the University of
Wisconsin Extension. Boudreau's 1976 radio program was a series of 30-minute lectures about
authors who wrote about and resided in Wisconsin including, the itinerant explorers,
missionaries, fur traders, Native Americans, pioneers, reformers, and humorists. His 1987
radio course titled, "Wisconsin's Literary Heritage," looked at the literary heritage of
Wisconsin through a comprehensive survey of early and contemporary Wisconsin authors.
