Brady, James, Diary, January 1966 to June 8, 1967

James Brady Diary, January 1966 to June 8, 1967

 In July 2025, Ellen Gould—the life partner of author and activist Murray Dobbin (d. 2021)—graciously donated James Brady’s last diary to the Gabriel Dumont Institute. Murray Dobbin was the author of The One-And-A-Half Men: The Story of Jim Brady and Malcolm Norris, Metis Patriots of the Twentieth Century. Murray Dobbin had the diary in his possession ever since he was researching his biography of James Brady (1908–1967) and Malcolm Norris (1900–1967) in the 1970s.  Also included with this donation is a letter which James Brady wrote to Ben Swanke from 1952, which discusses Gabriel Dumont, Louis Riel, and events from the 1885 Resistance. In describing the organization of this dairy, Ellen Gould writes that: 

"Note that the diary covered 18 months from January 1966 to June 8, 1967, when Brady went missing on what he thought was Middle Foster.  Brady used the same 1966 diary for both years, with the entries for 1967 in blue ink below the 1966 ones. I have bookmarked the June 8, 1967, entry as if a page of the diary was to go on display that would probably be the most significant one as it has him saying how cold it was the day he was last heard from.  Other things of note that are mentioned in my husband’s biography One and a Half Men are that Brady gave some of his visitors numbers rather than their names if they were politically active to protect their identities and the incredible amount that Brady read, with one entry that I’ve bookmarked listing 13 books he was reading at one time.  Amazing commitment to learning and a challenge to stereotypes about people who made their living in the bush."