Upon the reorganization of the American Institute of Architects in 1868, Sturgis was elected secretary, while Richard Upjohn was president and R.G. Hatfield treasurer. Also in 1868, Sturgis published his "Manual of the Jarves Collection of Early American Pictures in the Yale School of Fine Arts". When the Metropolitan Museum of Art was established in 1870, Sturgis was a trustee and a member of the executive committee until 1876, also serving as corresponding secretary from 1870 to 1873. He designed the First Baptist Church at Tarrytown, New York about 1875.