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Dr. Alan L. Hart collection

 Collection
Identifier: OLPb185HAR

Scope and Contents

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.

Dates

  • Creation: 1911-2019

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Biographical

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.

Extent

1 box

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

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.

Physical Location

Special Collections Repository 2

Related 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

Title
Guide to the Dr. Alan L. Hart collection
Author
Zachariah Selley
Date
2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Revision Statements

  • 2023-04: 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.

Repository Details

Part of the Lewis & Clark College, Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
615 S. Palatine Hill Rd.
Portland Oregon 97219 USA