In recent years, a cascade of high-profile controversies has pointed to the need for a reappraisal of board governance in arts institutions. A board of trustees steers the institution through collective decision-making, valued for their skills, expertise, and, in some part, the wealth that they are able to give in large sums to the institution. As is evident in these controversies, artists and activists have publicly started to interrogate what it means for art museums to name certain individuals as trustees, placing them in positions of power in exchange for their philanthropic giving. With these questions of philanthropy and board governance as a jumping off point, New Imaginations for the Role of the Museum Trustee seeks to bring together historical research and contemporary analysis in order to better understand the contested power dynamics that the art museum trustee occupies at this moment. This thesis will outline the unique history of the nonprofit trustee in the United States; the demands placed on the trustee in the contemporary context; and the potential for the role of the trustee to be imagined anew, generating dynamic forms of leadership and collaboration at all levels of our art museums. In this effort of historical contextualization, with particular attention to both actual constraints and inherited norms of the role, this thesis hopes to provide much needed foundational perspective on which to build any exploration of what might be possible for the role beyond its current definition and utilization.