Voices of Preservation
Alexandre Rotival is a 2025-2026 Jenrette Foundation curatorial intern where he supports the documentation and stewardship of the historic objects and furniture collections. He will begin law school in 2026, with a focus on preservation law, land use, and the regulatory and tax frameworks that support heritage conservation in an effort to make a difference for historic preservation. “In the context of the law, thinking about this moment we’re living through and immersing myself in the Jenrette Foundation’s incredible collection, the picture has grown larger for me,” he says. “The past is one thing, but we all have a part to play today.”
What brought you to the Jenrette Foundation?
It came down to these webs of relationships—I was lucky enough in my town in Connecticut to be shoveling the driveway of a Century Association member who knew Jenrette Foundation President Ben Prosky and who invited me to one of his lunch talks at the club, knowing I was passionate about old buildings. One thing that is so special about this world is preservation’s propensity to connect people. It’s an incredible web. When I met Ben, and told him I was a paralegal at the time working for a venture capital firm, which is about as far away from old buildings as you can be, it was a breath of fresh air. It was enthralling to talk to someone who was so passionate about the built environment. It gave me the confidence to think differently—to think closer to the question of what passion and dedication could yield. That turned into meeting the rest of the organization, and it was layer upon layer of people who found a way to integrate their passions for historic preservation and the decorative arts and historic landscapes.
The Jenrette Foundation has pulled the best of the legacy of Dick Jenrette, which is about encouraging the eagerness and confidence of younger people. They help people turn that eagerness and confidence into a pathway and a career. It’s about helping people find hopeful futures—with these amazing houses, collections, and networks. The statistic that keeps popping into my head is that something like nine out of 10 house museums operate on a budget of less than $50,000 per year, and to have an organization like the Jenrette Foundation committing themselves to helping those museums and the people whose lives can—and one day might—intersect with them is incredibly exciting. The internships Jenrette supports can be life-changing. The technical skills the foundation supports elevates people and the spaces they are stewarding.
What will you take with you from this experience?
Being with the roofing contractor at Edgewater in the work tent, studying pieces of the cornice that nobody has looked at or put their hands on in decades—and seeing, on one hand, the technically skilled interns and curatorial fellows applying their knowledge, and on the other, a real sense of wonder among everyone in the tent.
What have you uncovered that’s been particularly memorable?
The wealth of objects defines this Jenrette collection, but it goes beyond fine furniture. I discovered some incredible internal memos from Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette. There were porcelain sets. There were Hudson River prints. It’s a man’s life, this collection—and both Dick and his partner, Bill, were connoisseurs—but it’s also about seeing an evolution of a collection. The nexus of the collection, now, is Early American pieces that hone-in on what’s important about an American story and the creation of a national identity.
It’s significant that you’re doing this now and surveying furniture and objects in the year we’re celebrating America 250, and you’re entering law school soon. What does the bigger picture look like for you?
In the context of the law and thinking about the relationships between this incredible moment we’re living through and this incredible opportunity I’ve had to work with the Jenrette collection, I think it comes down to dignity—dignity under the law, and as the picture has grown larger for me with each house I’ve visited and each object I’ve catalogued for the Jenrette Foundation, it shows the past as we know it is one thing, but we all play a part in that past. We play a part in shaping the world as it is today, and there’s something for everyone in this collection. When I think about the law, and I think about what I’ve learned through Jenrette, it’s about specificity of language—and we have to be specific about these objects and these homes in chronicling history. If we’re not doing this kind of due diligence on the story of a place or an object, the people who made those places and things can be excluded. Jenrette creates opportunities to reflect. Time, expertise, and specificity are the most important things when we approach historic preservation as related acts of stewardship.
As we move forward, it’s important to continue allowing more people to feel included in our histories and how we tell those stories. The Jenertee Foundation helps us all find ourselves in our histories and ask important questions. That’s where I’ve decided my place is—and the law is how I’ve decided to contribute most efficiently to the continuation and discovery of these histories.