Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Dr. Alan L. Hart collection, 1911-2019
Overview of the Collection
- Title
- Dr. Alan L. Hart collection
- Dates
- 1911-2019 (inclusive)19112019
- Quantity
- 1 box
- Collection Number
- OLPb185HAR
- Summary
- Collection mainly of photocopies of papers and research on Dr. Alan L. Hart, an Oregon doctor and author who underwent gender affirmation surgery in 1918.
- Repository
-
Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives
Aubrey R. Watzek Library
615 S. Palatine Hill Rd.
Portland, OR
97219
Telephone: 5037687758
Fax: 5037687282
archives@lclark.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Languages
- English
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
This collection primarily contains photocopies of material by or about Dr. Alan L. Hart. Contributors include the records of Albany College (now Lewis & Clark College), research and notes by Brian Booth, as well as Thomas Lauderdale and Tom Cook; documents from Hart family friend and executor Harold C. Buckingham, Jr.; and research and writings of Joyce Blankenship. This collection was assembled by Lewis & Clark College Special Collections and Archives staff. Finding aid text updated in 2023 by Zoe Maughan and Crystal Willer. Resources consulted include the Digital Transgender Archive style guide and the Sunshine State Digital Network Inclusive Metadata & Conscious Editing Resources.
Historical NoteReturn to Top
Dr. Alan L. Hart was an American physician, radiologist, tuberculosis researcher, writer and novelist. In 1917–18 Hart was one of the first to undergo gender affirmation surgery in the United States. Hart pioneered the use of x-ray photography in tuberculosis detection, and helped implement TB screening programs in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho. In 1948 Hart was appointed Director of Hospitalization and Rehabilitation for the Connecticut State Tuberculosis Commission. In addition to medical research, Hart wrote four popular fiction novels informed by his experience in the medical field: Doctor Mallory (1935), The Undaunted (1936), In the Lives of Men (1937), and Doctor Finlay Sees it Through (1942).
Hart was born October 4, 1890, in Halls Summit, Coffey County, Kansas, to Albert L. Hart and Edna Hart (née Bamford). When Hart's father died of typhoid fever in 1892, Hart's mother reverted to her maiden name and moved the family to Linn County, Oregon. In 1895 Hart's mother remarried, to Bill Barton. Hart attended Albany High School and Albany College, transferring to Stanford University in 1911-12. Hart earned a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Oregon Medical Department in 1917.
In 1917, Hart approached Joshua Allen Gilbert, Ph.D., M.D., at the University of Oregon who treated Hart both psychologically and medically. Hart's gender affirmation surgery was completed at the University of Oregon Medical School over the 1917–1918 winter vacation. Following the surgery Hart changed his name from Alberta Lucille to Alan. Hart's assigned name and sex designation remained unknown until Jonathan Ned Katz first identified Hart as the pseudonymous "H" in Joseph Gilbert's 1920s case notes. Katz featured Hart in his book, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (1976).
Hart was accomplished in the medical profession, and a popular writer of medical fiction. Hart was married to Inez Stark from 1918-1924, and to Edna Ruddick from 1925 until his death in 1962. Following his death, Edna Ruddick Hart establish a fund for research into leukemia, from which Hart's mother had died.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Preferred Citation
[Item Description] Dr. Alan L. Hart collection, Lewis & Clark College Special Collections and Archives, Portland, Oregon.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Location of Collection
Special Collections Repository 2Related Materials
Lewis & Clark College also holds the Edna Ruddick Hart Correspondence with Walter Marcus, 1970-1972, a collection of letters to Walter Marcus from Edna Ruddick Hart, the wife of doctor and author Alan L. Hart. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv28405
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Documents, newspaper clippings and articlesReturn to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | ||
| 1 | 1 | "Women's Ideas of Dress Reform" by Lucille Hart. Printed in the Oregonian newspaper (photocopy) |
1913 |
| 1 | 2 | "11 Doctors Graduated" Article on Hart's graduating class from the University of Oregon Medical School. Printed in the Oregonian newspaper (photocopy) |
1917 |
| 1 | 3 | "Attire did not proclaim man" Printed in the Oakland Tribune (photocopy) |
1918 |
| 1 | 4 | "Dr. Alan Hart said to be Oregon girl" Printed in the Daily Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon (photocopy) |
1918 |
| 1 | 5 | "Dr. A. Lucille Hart wore male attire" Printed in the Daily Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon (photocopy) |
1918 |
| 1 | 6 | "Dr. Hart explains change to male attire" Printed in the Albany Daily Democrat. (photocopy) |
1918 |
| 1 | 7 | "Amazing sex discovery" Article printed in the Medical Sentinel (photocopy) |
1918 |
| 1 | 8 | "Homo-sexuality and its treatment" by J. Allen Gilbert Ph.D. M.D. Published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (photocopy)
Article details the case of Alan Hart who underwent transgender surgy in 1917-1918. Gilbert was Hart's physician and wrote the article identifying his patient as only "H".
|
1920 |
| 1 | 9 | "The Undaunted" book review, New York Times (photocopy) |
1936 |
| 1 | 10 | Alan L. Hart to Mrs. Rinehart at the Hopewell Hospital [correspondence] (photocopy) |
1921 |
| 1 | 11 | Alan L. Hart to Webster A. Jones at the Oregonian newspaper. [correspondence] (photocopy) |
1933 |
| 1 | 12 | Alan L. Hart personal history and timeline through 1933. Sent to Webster A. Jones at the Oregonian newspaper. (photocopy) |
1933 |
| 1 | 13 | Alan L. Hart to Mr Thacker of Boise, Idaho [correspondence] (photocopy) |
1920 |
| 1 | 14 | Census record reports 1900, 1910, 1920 (photocopy) |
2019 |
| 1 | 15 | The Takenah: Albany College yearbook |
1911 |
| 1 | 16 | A. Lucille Hart: Albany College records (photocopy) |
1912 |
| 1 | 17 | Alan Hart draft registration (photocopy) |
1918 |
| 1 | 18 | Alan Hart draft registration (photocopy) |
1941 |
| 1 | 19 | Alan L. Hart: Will and Testement, Boise, Idaho (photocopy) |
1943 |
| 1 | 20 | Dr. Alan L. Hart: Obituaries (photocopy) |
1962 |
| 1 | 21 | Oregon Health Sciences University: Memo on Hart's attendance |
1992 |
| 1 | 22 | Alan Hart and Inez Stark marriage announcement. Printed in the San Francisco Examiner (photocopy) |
19180210 |
| 1 | 23 | Alan Hart and Inez Stark Oregon divorce complaint (photocopy) |
1925 |
| 1 | 24 | Alan Hart and Inez Stark Oregon divorce findings and conclusions (photocopy) |
1925 |
| 1 | 25 | Alan Hart and Edna Ruddick marriage license and marriage certificate (photocopy) |
19250515 |
| 1 | 26 | Edna Ruddick Hart: resume (photocopy) |
c. 1938 |
| 1 | 27 | Edna Ruddick Hart: Will and Testament (photocopy) |
1980 |
| 1 | 28 | Edna Ruddick Hart: notice of death from Harold C. Buckingham, Jr. (photocopy) |
1982 |
| 1 | 29 | Edna Ruddick Hart: Obituary (photocopy) |
1982 |
| 1 | 30 | Edna Ruddick Hart: Death certificate (photocopy) |
1982 |
| 1 | 31 | Medical Research Foundation of Oregon: Memo on Hart estate fund |
19820902 |
| 1 | 32 | Edna B. and Will Barton residential listing: Albany directory (photocopy) |
1920 |
| 1 | 33 | Edna B. Barton obituary (photocopy) |
1938 |
Writings and research about Dr. Alan L. Hart Return to Top
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | ||
| 1 | 34 | "Private Lives, Public Struggles" by Gerard Koskovich (photocopy) |
1993 |
| 1 | 35 | "The Incredible Life and Loves of the Legendary Lucille Hart" by Thomas Lauderdale, Tom Cook (photocopy) |
1993 |
| 1 | 36 | "Decades ago, an Oregon doctor tried to redefine gender" by Tom Bates (photocopy) |
1996 |
| 1 | 37 | "The Alan Lucille Hart Story" by Ken Morris, Kay Brown (photocopy) |
1996 |
| 1 | 38 | "Public Careers and Private Sexuality: Some Gay and Lesbian Lives in the History of Medicine and Public Health" by Bert Hansen PhD. (photocopy) |
2002 |
| 1 | 39 | "Alan Hart: A new man, or still just passing?" by Vanessa Selbst (photocopy) |
2003 |
| 1 | 40 | "The life and career of Alberta Lucille / Dr. Alan L. Hart" by Brian Booth (photocopy) |
2003 |
| 1 | 41 | "Alberta Lucille Hart / Dr. Alan Hart: An Oregon Pioneer" by Brian Booth, Thomas Lauderdale (photocopy) |
2005 |
| 1 | 42 | "TG History: The measure of a man - Dr. Alan Hart" by Michelle Moore (photocopy) |
2010 |
| 1 | 43 | "You don't say: In small-town magic valley, TB met its match" by Steve Crump (photocopy) |
2010 |
| 1 | 44 | "Doctor Alan Hart: X-ray vision in the archive" by Emile Devereaux. Australian Feminist Studies. (photocopy) |
2010 |
| 1 | 45 | "Queer reading of Alan Hart's the Undaunted" by Colin Close (photocopy) |
2010 |
| 1 | 46 | "Manifesting destiny: Dr Alan Hart's transformation and the embodiment of sex in early twentieth-century sexology" by Colin Close (photocopy) |
2014 |
| 1 | 47 | "This side of the road" by Joyce Blankenship
Book includes material on Alan and Inez (Stark) Hart and the history of Port Townsend, Washington.
|
2016 |
| 1 | 48 | "Born in 1891, this transgender Oregonian was a man ahead of his time" by Molly Woodstock. Portland Monthly Magazine. (photocopy) |
2018 |
| 1 | 49 | "Dr. Alan L. Hart: 'An idyll of a country childhood,' An Oregon transgender pioneer" by Zachariah Selley (photocopy) |
2019 |
| 1 | 50 | Alan L. Hart research notes complied by Joyce Blankenship (photocopy) |
2016 |
| 1 | 51 | Inez Stark genealogy and research notes by Joyce Blankenship (photocopy) |
2016 |
| 1 | 52 | Research notes by Booth, Lauderdale, Cook (photocopy) |
c. 2005 |
| 1 | 53 | Hart bibliography |
2019 |
PhotographsReturn to Top
Contains photographs of Hart copied from Albany College publications and other print resources. Copies of photographs of Inez Stark provided by Joyce Blankenship.
| Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box | Folder | ||
| 1 | 54.1 | Hart as child (reproduction) |
c. 1890 |
| 1 | 54.2 | Albany College Girls Debate League Champions: Martha Montague, Inez Easton, Lucille Hart (reproduction) |
1907 |
| 1 | 54.3 | Yearbook photo of Hart (reproduction) |
1911 |
| 1 | 54.4 | Chemistry Laboratory Class at Albany College [Hart, second from right] (reproduction) |
1911 |
| 1 | 54.5 | Albany College Editorial Staff [Hart, top right] (reproduction) |
1911 |
| 1 | 54.6 | Dr. Alan L. Hart (reproduction) |
c. 1930 |
| 1 | 54.7 | Dr. Alan L. Hart (reproduction) |
c. 1950 |
| 1 | 54.8 | Eva Cushman (reproduction) |
1911 |
| 1 | 54.9 | Inez Stark (reproduction) |
c. 1900-1980 |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Personal Names
- Hart, Alan (Alan L.), 1890-1962
Geographical Names
- Oregon
Occupations
- Medicine
Zachariah Selley
2019
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
