Claus Sadlier
Founder and CEO | New Orleans Storyville Museum
Getting a new museum from concept to completion in one year is a remarkable achievement by itself. For Claus Sadlier, founder and CEO of the New Orleans Storyville Museum, how he completed the project — which opened in September 2024 — is even more important.
“The museum is completely self-funded,” emphasized Sadlier, a successful entrepreneur. “We took nothing away from other New Orleans cultural projects or creators, and it is still a very high-quality museum.”
Sadlier reports that “customers compare us to the quality of The National World War II Museum. Obviously not the same scale, but what you get out of it. And as somebody who has visited hundreds of museums around the world, [The National World War II Museum] is the best.”
What pleases Sadlier most about how his museum has turned out is the way it presents “a historically accurate story of the history of New Orleans from its founding in 1718 to the closing of Storyville in 1917. We present the subject matter in a respectful way, not salacious. This is not a sex museum.”
Given its focus, it’s fair to say that the museum is rated PG-13, but even Sadlier’s 92-year-old aunt, who is a nun, found it informative and tasteful, and has arranged a field trip to the facility for her retirement home.
Another point of satisfaction is that all the work of creating the space was done by local artists. This includes the audio-visual components, the murals on the walls, the graphics and the signage.
“They all live in New Orleans,” he noted.
Assembling the contents of the museum did provide some challenges.
“There are not a lot of artifacts from Storyville itself still around,” observed Sadlier.
Other relevant period pieces and an extensive collection of photographs help fill these gaps.
Another challenge was “there was so much material, so many stories to tell. I probably left out half of them, like the voodoo aspect of the history.”
Visitors in the first six months of operations are clearly having a learning experience. Sadlier overheard one guest telling his companion that he hadn’t realized that Louis Armstrong was from New Orleans. Another told him that this was the first time he had read every sign in a museum. He noted that books about the city’s history and culture are selling well in the museum gift shop.
The museum’s warm reception has motivated Sadlier to think even bigger in the year ahead.
“I want to continue to grow,” he said, “and add exhibits and expand on how they relate to New Orleans culture today. Like the Baby Dolls, which grew out of Storyville. We are showcasing these traditions that we still celebrate today, and how they relate back to Storyville.”
