Join us for an engaging panel discussion exploring the history, myths, and legacy of Storyville, featuring four leading voices whose work has shaped how New Orleans understands its past.
Sally Asher is a local writer and photographer. She is the author of multiple books on the history of New Orleans. She has two master’s degrees from Tulane University in English and Liberal Arts (with a concentration in history). Her articles and fiction have appeared in over a dozen publications, and she won the New Orleans Press award for best feature reporting for her article on Storyville. She frequently lectures on New Orleans history through the Louisiana State Museum and has lectured, presented, and moderated panels for the Louisiana Book Festival, Downriver Festival, Bourbon Festival, and the Tennessee Williams Festival. Former president of Save Our Cemeteries, Asher is now a board member of the Preservation Resource Center and is the chair for the committee Save Our Cemeteries. She owns and operates Red Sash Tours that specializes in cemetery tours and has just launched a new podcast called Eat, Drink, and Be Buried, a podcast about New Orleans’ customs, culture, and curiosities.
John McCusker has been a photojournalist in New Orleans since 1983, working at the Times-Picayune and the New Orleans Advocate. McCusker was part of the team awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and he was named a fellow with the DART Society in 2009. He is the author of “Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz” (2012) and co-author of “Jockomo: The Native Roots of Mardi Gras Indians,” (2019) both published by the University Press of Mississippi. McCusker founded the Cradle of Jazz Tour in 1994 with a goal of protecting and marking structures associated with the birth of jazz in New Orleans. After leaving newspaper work in 2016, he worked as a volunteer for ToolBank USA, aiding in the recovery from Hurricanes Harvey and Michael. In 2019, John founded the 1811 Kid Ory Historic House, a museum telling the story of the 1811 slave rebellion and the early life of jazz pioneer Kid Ory.
Eric Seiferth is curator and historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection. He is the project lead on the NOLA Resistance initiative to preserve and share stories of the New Orleans Civil Rights Movement, and the associated exhibition The Trail They Blazed. He was also lead curator of the award-winning exhibitions Storyville: Madams and Music and Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration. He earned his BA and MA in American History from Tulane University.
Claus Sadlier is the President & CEO of the New Orleans Storyville Museum. A sixth-generation New Orleanian, Sadlier graduated from Brother Martin High School and the University of New Orleans before earning his MBA from Indiana University.
Sadlier moved to San Francisco in the early 1990s, where he launched a successful business career. He is best known for inventing and commercializing the world’s first insulated paper coffee cup, known as the Insulair Cup. Although Sadlier enjoyed his time in San Francisco, he left his heart in New Orleans, and he returned to his roots in 2013, making his residence in the French Quarter.
Wanting to bring the true story of Storyville to a wider audience, Sadlier devoted several years researching the historical narrative. While creating his vision for the Storyville Museum, he visited leading institutions around the world to study innovations in museum design, collected artifacts relevant and related to the city’s infamous Red Light Distritct, and assembled a team of local professionals to bring the museum’s vision to life. Located just two blocks from the historic Storyville district, the New Orleans Storyville Museum opened its doors to the public in August 2024, offering the public a unique immersive and educational experience.