She is known for curating exhibitions based on the religious icons and visual practices of Haitian Vodou and her anthropological research on the culture of the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria.
[7] In another collaboration with Cosentino at the Fowler Museum, Houlberg helped to organize In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st-Century Haitian Art, alongside Patrick A. Polk, Leah Gordon, and Katherine Smith.
The Marilyn Houlberg Collection at the Haitian Art Society houses works with religious and spiritual themes, such as depictions of lwa, saints, and ceremonies of Haiti, by artists including Myrlande Constant, Evelyne Alcide, and Yves Telemaque.
[8] The Marylin Houlberg Collection at the Indigo Arts Gallery in Philadelphia also includes the work of Haitian artists, as well as sculptural Yoruban figures.
These collections consist of color slides, prints, video, audio, field notes and other documentation of people, places, socio-cultural phenomena, and art historical practices, created over the course of Houlberg's decades-long career.