Sarah Elbert (1936-2019) was an American literary historian, best known for her scholarship on Louisa May Alcott's writings.

Sarah Elbert was born in New York to a mixed-race family on 5 January 1936. She attended Cornell University, earning a B.A. magna cum laude with honors in history in 1965, despite becoming a single mother the year previously. She completed all of her graduate work at Cornell, earning a M.A. in teaching in 1966, a master's degree in history in 1968, and a Ph.D. in history in 1974. While in graduate school Elbert participated in Students for a Democratic Society, the Union for Radical Political Economics and the Congress of Racial Equality as well as protesting against the Vietnam War. She later made a documentary film on the week of the 1968 Democratic National Convention entitled, The Streets Belong to the People.

Elbert was hired as a visiting assistant professor in 1973 at Binghamton University and remained there for the rest of her career. Her appointment was regularized when she received her Ph.D the following year and she was promoted to associate professor in 1981. Her academic achievements include a Fulbright visiting professorship in Norway, an Excellence in Teaching Award, and a visiting professorship in American Studies in Denmark. She was the author and editor of six books, numerous articles, and an expert on the life and writings of Louisa May Alcott.