A former president of the Society of Architectural Historians, he served as chairman of the art history department at the University of Delaware and as founding chairman of the Department of History in Art at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.
He is currently Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies of the National Gallery of Art, scholar at the Getty Center, and Member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historians.
Throughout its history the society has promoted collegiality amongst its members, however, as Julia Gatley has written, this history has not been without its tensions, particularly between the empiricist historians and those with a commitment to theory. (Gatley, J. 'SAHANZ: the first 50 years', in Fabrications 13, 2, May 2004, pp. 63–77.) The society is a partner organisation of the Society of Architectural Historians (USA).
Similar and historically related organizations are found in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand: the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain; the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC); and the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand.
Initially it was conceived as being a chapter of the American Society of Architectural Historians partly because Bannister had been a founder-member in 1940.
Society of Jesus | Royal Society | National Geographic Society | American Cancer Society | Royal Television Society | American Physical Society | American Chemical Society | International Society for Krishna Consciousness | American Society of Civil Engineers | Royal Society of Canada | Royal Geographical Society | American Philosophical Society | Theosophical Society | Royal Society of Edinburgh | Society of Antiquaries of London | Society of the Cincinnati | Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals | Justice Society of America | American Mathematical Society | Royal Aeronautical Society | National Honor Society | Black Label Society | Students for a Democratic Society | society | Royal Society of Arts | secret society | Royal Dublin Society | Royal Astronomical Society | London Missionary Society | Zoological Society of London |
Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl, "Architecture for the Boston & Albany Railroad," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 47 (June 1988), pages 109-131.