The exhibit opened Friday Night, June 21, 2019. Dr. William Lincoln Bates (1855-1932), a member of Jamestown’s Carr family, spent three years of his youth at the Providence Reform School for theft. He went on to become a doctor in electrotherapy and to establish the Dr. Bates Sanitarium, also known as Maplewood. The sanitarium on Conanicus Avenue across from the Bay Voyage Hotel was open from 1900 till 1944.

The summer exhibit, curated by Sue Maden, tells the story of Bates’ life and hospital. It is based in part on The 1874 Diary of Providence Reform School Inmate No. 2067: Dr. William Lincoln Bates of Jamestown, RI by Sue Maden and Rosemary Enright, published in conjunction with the exhibit.