Paul Howard Carlson (born August 30, 1940), an historian of Texas, the American West, and Native Americans, is a professor emeritus at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Carlson received his Ph.D. in 1973 from Texas Tech, taught at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin in Guadalupe County, and returned to Tech in the early 1980s as a professor of history. He retired from the university in 2009. He has also been active throughout his career as a fellow of both the West Texas Historical Association, based at Texas Tech, and the Texas State Historical Association, headquartered at the University of North Texas in Denton. Carlson concentrates on ranching, frontier life, the military, and Indian affairs. He has through 2010 published 18 books and more than 200 articles, essays, and book reviews.