Dr. Harry Oster (April 12, 1923 – January 19, 2001) was an American folklorist and musicologist, working at The University of Iowa, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 1964 to 1994.
"In his 30-year career at Iowa, Harry Oster invented an enormous range of new courses, from American Folk Literature to American Jewish Writers to Blues, Ragtime, and Jazz. His first book, Living Country Blues, published in 1969, became a landmark in its field. And the long lists of articles and recordings continued to grow. Along the way, he earned major grants from the Guggenheim and Ford foundations and from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The culmination of Oster's scholarly career came in 2000, with the publication of his Penguin Dictionary of American Folklore" (Faculty memorial of The University of Iowa, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences).