Howard Wight Marshall is an American folklorist, ethnomusicologist, and academic known for his work in material culture studies, vernacular music, and rural architecture, especially in the context of the American Midwest and South. He earned his doctorate at Indiana University and has been a professor at the University of Missouri, where he served as director of the Folklore Studies program. His research often focuses on musical traditions, everyday life, and cultural expressions of rural communities, and he has published several books and articles on these topics.