MBAD African Bead Museum, founded in 1985 by S. Jill Miller and Olayami Dabls, was incorporated in the State of Michigan in 1996 by Dabls, Sonja Lockhart, Chris Woodard, Frank Coston, Efe Bes and Larry Mitchell.
In 1998, thanks to the generous heart of Mrs. Ardie Reddick, the now-home of the MBAD Bead Museum was humbly donated-- a 17,500 sq. ft. building for Dabls to house his museum and exquisite artifacts.