Wacław Michał Zaleski (September 18, 1799 in Olesko, eastern Galicia – February 24, 1849 in Vienna), pseudonym Wacław from Olesko (Wacław z Oleska), was a Polish poet, writer, researcher of folklore (folklorist), theatre critic, political activist, governor of Galicia (1848).

Zaleski collected and published in Lviv Pieśni polskie i ruskie ludu galicyjskiego [Polish and Russian songs of Galician nation] (1833), which contained about 1500 works, including 160 with piano accompaniment composed by Karol Lipiński. It was largest collection of folk-songs published in Poland before Oskar Kolberg.