Bates worked at multiple institutions including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts where he served as the director of the Egyptian Department and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography where he was a curator in African ethnology.
[1] Notable works by Bates include "The Eastern Libyans," "A Madcap Cruise," and Siwan Superstitions.
Following this he served as the director of the Egyptian department at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Bates also served in the United States Armed Forces as part of the 12th Observation Battery, Section 6.
[7] Bates died from pneumonia on October 8, 1918, at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky.