AN INUPIAT SEALSKIN RUG FROM NOME, ALASKA circa 1890
In 1966 Harvie donated his entire Glenbow Foundation collection to the province of Alberta, thus founding the Glenbow Museum in Calgary in Alberta.
After Eric Harvey’s death in 1975, and under a new management, the Glenbow Museum held two auctions and let go a group of very fine items.
The auction of the year May 31-2011 included this fine old Inupiat Sealskin Rug from Nome Alaska.
This beautiful work of art is in a very fragile condition and should be protected in a glass frame
ERIC LAFFERTY HARVIE– Alberta’s noble man and Canada’s most generous philanthropist 2 April 1892- 11 January 1975. A brilliant lawyer and a very successful oilman. Holding mineral rights to large tracts of land around Edmonton. He made a huge fortune after oil discoveries in Leduc in 1947 and Redwater in 1948. Born in 1892 in Orilla, Ontario.
On 8 October 1916 in WWI, Harvie was badly injured in a trench attack which lasted most of the day. He had to hide in shell craters and was finally rescued in the evening.
In 1918 while on leave, he met Dorothy Jean Southam. After their marriage in 1919 they moved to Calgary. The rest is Alberta history.
Following the sale of western lease holds in 1955, Harvie dedicated increasing time to his collecting hobby and philanthropy through his Devonian Group of Charitable Foundations which also included the Riveredge Foundation. Towards the end of his life Harvie gave back most of his fortune. In 1962 Eric Harvie was made an Honorary Chief of the Blackfoot Nation and in 1967 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
