Alberta Lucille Hart/Alan L. Hart: Timeline, October 4, 1890 - present

A chronology of the life, work, and comment on Alberta Lucille Hart/Allan L. Hart

Building on the research of the late Brian Booth, OutHistory hopes to inspire new research into the evidence that reveals the life of an amazing individual.

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See also:

J. Allen Gilbert: "Homosexuality and Its Treatment," October 1920

1890, October 4

Alberta Lucille Hart born in Hall’s Summit, Kansas, the only child of Albert and Edna Bamford Hart.

1892

Albert Hart dies following a typhoid fever epidemic. Edna Hart and Alberta move to Linn County, Oregon, where Edna's family had lived since 1861. They first live on the farm of Edna's parents, the Bamfords.

1894

"First public appearance at 4 years, no fear at all."

1895

Edna Bamford Hart marries Bill Barton and after a brief period the family moves back to live on the Bamford's farm.

1896

Alberta Lucile is very close to her grandfather Bamford and later writes that "my grandfather, who was an ardent Single Taxer, read a loud to me from his books on economics and politics, and I began to take some interest in his subjects about about the age of six [1896]. He was an active worker of a farm and irregularly attended an ungraded school until age 12."<source?>

1902

The family moves to Albany, Oregon, and Alberta Lucille enters the seventh grade.

1908

Alberta Lucille attends Albany High School and is active in debating, student government, and writing for the school paper.

Lucille Hart. "Frankfort Center". Albany High School Whirlwind, 1908. Hart described "Frances", a prize boxer and basketball player.

1908-1910

Alberta Lucille attends Albany College (now Lewis & Clark College) and is active in debate, writing, tennis, photography, and other activities.

1911

The Takenah, the Albany College yearbook (Albany, Ore.: Albany College, 1911), includes three photographs and several written references to Lucille Hart. A brief description of Hart and two photos, one as a member of the junior class, the other a baby picture, are on p. 18-19 of The Takenah.

A description of the junior class (p. 20) says that it had dwindled from seventeen "Freshmen" to three "Juniors," all women: "[Lucille] Hart, [Eva] Cushman, [Katherine] Stuart." These women include "the most graceful dancer, the most expert mandolinist, and the finest soprano soloist in the college." Hart is said to preside over all the class meetings. "They have also decided--as a part of their duty to the world and the rising generation--to discard all rats and artificial puffs, and to adopt the dress-reform style of clothing. They have not yet worn their new costumes in public, though they contemplate doing so soon."

Page 51 presents a photograph of the "Editorial Staff" of The Takenah, including Lucille Hart and Eva Cushman.

Dr. Gilbert's report mentions that "H" was active at Albany College as an oratorical debator, a manager of the "College Annual," and as a leader of the Women's Mandolin Club. Dr. Gilbert's report describes "H's" sexual-affectional liaison at Albany College with a young woman "classmate" whose initials are given as "E.C." This is no doubt the Eva Cushman whose pictures and description appear in The Takenah (pages, 18-19, 20, 51).

1911-1912

Hart transfers to Stanford University as a Junior. Eva Cushman, moves with her from Albany College. Hart receives high marks in pre-med coursework. Hart is active on campus and maintains a guarded love affair with her roommate, Eva Cushman.

Hart was in attendance at Stanford University during the first and second semesters of the academic year 1911-12. The Leland Stanford Junior University: Twenty-first Annual Register; 1911-12 ([Stanfold], Calif.: Published by the University, ?? , p. 26) lists Alberta Lucille Hart, from Albany, Ore., as registered for Physiology 66, and living at 2 Roble (a dormitory) .

1912

Hart moves back to Albany, Oregon, and graduates from Albany College.

1913

Enters University of Oregon Medical College, then located in N.W. West 23rd and Lovejoy Street in Portland. Is the only woman in her class. During medical school Hart lives in apartment buildings at N.W. 21st Street between Flanders and Glisan, the Rex Arms Apartments at S.E. 1th and Morrison, and at boarding houses at 2265 N.W. Hoyt Street and 3610 N.E. Hancock Street.

1916

Hart attends summer school at Stanford School of Medicine."Summer School Students, 1916," Stanford University. Department of Medicine. Annual Announcements for 1917-18, p. 98 lists "Hart, A. Lucille, Actinography, Clinical Medicine, Portland, Ore."

Kappa Alpha Order. The Kappa Alpha Journal, Volume 33, Issue 2 (1916), page 148 lists Alan L. Hart as a member of Eta.

1917

Hart graduates from University of Oregon Medical School at the top of her class. Worked at the Amy Barton Dispensary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1918

Hart consults Dr. J. Allen Gilbert, in Portland, Oregon, about a phobia -- a fear of loud noises. This results in Hart undergoing numbers of therapy sessions with Gilbert in which they discuss her sexual attraction and acts with women, and she prepares a chronological account of her life.

1918, February

Hart marries Inez Stark in California, using the name Robert Allen Bamford, Jr.

1918, August

Dr. Gilbert says of "H": "In August [1918] she [Hart] underwent a complete physical examination, with subsequent laparotomy in which the uterus was removed. After the operation she assumed male attire." (The excision of the uterus is now generally referred to as a hysterectomy.) As Gilbert describes it: "Her hair was cut, a complete male outfit was secured and having previously identified herself with the Red Cross, she made her exit as a female and started as a male with a new hold on life and ambitions worthy of her high degree and intellectuality."

Using the name Alan L., Hart begins a medical practice in Gardiner, Oregon, the setting, later, of Hart's first book, Dr. Mallory. As Gilbert describes it: "She 'made good' in every way, until she was recognized by a former associate under the operation of that fanciful law of chance, which threw one of her former intimate associates across her tracks. Then the hounding process began which our modern social organization can carry on to such perfection and refinement against her own members."

1919-1920, Autumn

Hart practiced medicine in Southern Montana. "Did operations in barns and houses and spent my spare time reading medical journals. trying to learn what I hadn't been taught in medical school. . . . The crash of the autumn of 1920 wiped out most of the Montana farmers and stockmen, and me a1ong with them."

1920, October

Dr. J. Allen Gilbert, a medical doctor and physiology professor in Portland, Oregon, publishes an account of a patient identified as "H".

For the original article see Gilbert, J. Allan. "Homo-Sexuality and Its Treatment." Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2:4 (Oct. 1920), 297-332.

On Gilbert also see: Oregon Historical Society. "Guide to the J. Allen Gilbert Papers 1888-1990."

1921-1923

Hart lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and does x-ray work at the Albuquerque sanitarium where "chest diagnosis fascinated me." Inez Stark leaves her marriage with Alan L. Hart in 1923.

1924-1925

Hart is divorced from Inez Stark. Hart attends summer school classes at the University of Oregon when he meets Edna Ruddick. "For the first time in eleven years [since ????] I had access to a decent library. . .and my old interest in literature flared up again." Alan L. Hart and Edna Ruddick are married in New York City. Hart does graduate work at the New York Postgraduate Hospital and at Saranac Lake, in New York State.

1926-1928

Alan L. Hart is employed at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington, doing chest and x=ray work. He conducts a chest clinic for the Idaho Tuberculouis Association and examined 7772 persons and made over 150 public addresses on health topics.

1928, September

Alan L. Hart entered Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and was granted a fellowship at Henry Phipps Institute where he studied radiology.

1929, October

Hart finishes his studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

1930

Alan L. Hart receives his Masters of Science in Radiology from the University of Pennsylvania.

1930-1932

Hart takes a position as director of the x-ray Department at tacoma General Hospital. Hart wrote that this job "Folded up on me at the end of 1932" and that "During that time, had to spend all my energy on the job and did not write anything except medical stuff."

1933-1938

Alan L and Edna Hart reside at 901 E. 43rd Street, Seattle, Washington. Alan is employed as a consultant with the Idaho tuberculosis Association. In 1935 he wrote: "Came to Seattel early in 1933. Have been doing only part-time medical work and have expected to starve ever since, but have not quite done so."

1935

Dr. Mallory, a novel by Alan L. Hart, is published in New York City by W. W. Norton.

Powers, Alfred. History of Oregon Literature. Portland, Oregon: Metropolitan Press, 1935. On Hart: pages 680-681.

1935, April 14

The Oregonian [newspaper]. "Oregon Medic is Author of Book on Young Doctor." Mentions that Dr. Hart had given a lecutre on Saturday at the J. K, Gill auditorium in Portland, and also a radio interview.

1936

The Undaunted, a novel by Alan L. Hart, is published by W. W. Norton.

1937

The Lives of Men, a novel by Alan L. Hart, is published by W. W. Norton.

1938-1944

Alan L. Hart is employed by the Idaho State Department of Public Health in Boise as a Tuberculois Consultant.

1942

Dr, Findlay Sees It Through, a novel by Alan L. Hart, is published by Harper & Brothers, in New York City.

1943

These Mysterious Rays, a book about the use of x-rays in medicine, by Alan L. Hart, is published by Harper & Brothers.

1943, June 28

Alan Hart makes his Last Will and Testament, stating that upon hsi death, he be cremated or buried as soon as possible, and that no memorial of any kind be erected or created. He further instructed his Seattle attorney to destroy upon his death certain letters and photographs contained in a bank safety deposit box and in a locked box in his home.

1945, August 1

Hart is licensed to practice medicine in Connecticut.

1948

Alan L. Hart receives his Master degree in Public Health from Yale University.

1950

Alan L. and Edna Hart purchase property in West Hartford, Connecticut, which remains their home until their deaths.

1862, March 6

Alan L. Hart gives a public lecture at the Unitarian Meeting House in West Harftord on "Middle Age: A Trial Balance."

1962, July 1

Alan L. Hart dies of heart disease at Harford General Hospital.

1962, July 5

Alan L. Hart's remains were cremated in Springfield, Massachusetts and shipped to Port Angeles, Washington, for scattering.

1969, July

Eva Cushman Zartman dies in Altadena, California.

1975, December 3

A letter to Jonathan Ned Katz from the Stanford University registrar's office dated Dec. 3, 1975, verifies that Alberta Lucille Hart was born on Oct. 4, but not in 1892, the year given in Gilbert's article. She was in attendance at Stanford University during the first and second semesters of the academic year 1911-12.

1976, December 1

Thomas Y. Crowell Company publishes Jonathan [Ned] Katz's Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S. A., with a section discussing J. Allen Gilbert: "Homosexuality and Its Treatment," October 1920. Katz's research revealed that the subject of Gilbert's article, called "H", was Alberta Lucille Hart. Katz's interpretation of Hart's life tries to claim her as a "lesbian", an interpretation he lated rejected in favor of understanding Hart as Hart understood her/himself at different times in her/his life.

1978, October

Avon Books republishes Katz's Gay American History in a mass market paperback edition.

1982, March 21

Edna Ruddick Hart dies of heart disease in Hartford, Connecticut. She bequeathed to Medical Research Foundation (part of the Oregon Health Sciences University) the residue of her estate "In loving memory of my late husband, Alan L. Hard, MD, a graduate of The University of ORegon Medical School, whose mother died of leukemia, whose life was devoted to medicine and whose earnest wish was to some day give financial support to medical research in its efforts to conquer leukemia and other disease."

1982, May 19

Relatives of Alan Hart arrive from Oregon to claim Edna Hart's ashes and property left to themn. Edna's remains are brought to ORegon and scattered on Mt. Washington.

1983, July

Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (NY: Harper & Row, 1983). Includes a section on Hart publishing books as Alan Hart. Katz again claims Hart as "lesbian".

1986, February

Inez Stark died in Baltimore, Maryland.

1990, October 6

Bair, Henry. "Lucille Hart Story" and Brian Booth "Alan Hart: A Literary Footnote", in Right to Privacy Ninth Annual Lucille Hart Dinner Booklet (October 6, 1990).

1993, June

Koskovich, Gerard. "Private Lives, Public Struggles." Stanford. Volume 21, No. 2, June 1993.

1993, August 19

Miller, Janet, and Judith Schwarz. "Lesbian Physicians Slideshow." Created for the American Association of Physicians for Huyman Rights Conference, Portland, Oregon, August 19, 1993.

1993, September-October

Lauderdale, Thomas M. and Tom Cook. "The Incredible Life and Loves of the Legendary Lucille Hart." [Portland, Ore.] Alternative Connection volume 2, no. 12 (Sep. 1993), and no. 13 (Sept. 1993).

1994, July-October

In 1994, the story of Alberta Lucille Hart and Eva Cushman's attendance at Stanford University, along with a brief description of their subsequent lives, was included in the historical exhibition "Coming to Terms: Passionate Friendship to Gay Liberation on the Farm" at Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford. The exhibition was curated by independent scholar Gerard Koskovich; it ran from July through October 1994 and was the subject of a feature article in the Stanford Daily. Note that "the farm" in the exhibition title is a nickname for the Stanford campus.

1995, January 1

Plume republishes Katz's Gay American History" in a revised (new introduction) paperback edition.

1996, July 14

Bates, Tom. "Decades Ago, An Oregon Doctor Tried to Redefine Gender." Oregonian. July 14, 1996.

1998

The Alan L. and Edna Ruddick Hart Fund at Oregon Health Sciences Foundation has an endowment of $347, and is used for Medical Research Foundation grants in the field of leukemia and related blood disorders.

Diane Middlebrook Wood. Suites Me: THe Doouble Life of Billy Tipton. New York: Houghton-Mifflin, 1998. Mentions Hart, pages 215-217.

1999

Booth, Brian. "Introduction, Bibliography, and Chronology" copyright 1999 by Brian Booth, published in The Life and Career of Alberta Lucille/Dr. Alan L. Hart with Collected Early Writings. Portland, Ore.: Lewis & Clark College, February 2003. Online as a pdf

2000

Brian Booth, text. "Alberta Lucille Hart / Dr. Alan L. Hart: An Oregon 'Pioneer'". Presentation by Brian Booth and Thomas Lauderdale. to the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, for its Discovering Oregon Originals '99 series.

2002

Exhibit on Hart at Lewis and Clark University (formerly Albany College). <add more detail and cite>

2002, December 6

Jonathan Ned Katz presents the annual Kessler Lecture at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, New York, and discusses what he calls his earlier mistaken attempt to claim Hart as lesbian, advocating, instead, the attempt to understand Hart at different points in her/his life as Hart understood her/himself.

2003, February

Booth, Brian. "Introduction, Bibliography, and Chronology". Copyright 1999 by Brian Booth. Published in The Life and Career of Alberta Lucille/Dr. Alan L. Hart with Collected Early Writings. Portland, Ore.: Lewis & Clark College, February 2003. Online as a pdf

2004

Marc Stein. "HART, Alan L. (b. 4 October 1890; d. 1 July 1962), physician, novelist. Alan Lucille Hart, public health physician and man of letters, inspired scores of transgender activists with his story of courage and adaptation . . . Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America (Simon & Schuster, 2004), Volume ?, page 13.

Weiss, Jillian Todd "GL vs BT: The Archaeology of Biphobia and Transphobia Within the U.S. Gay and Lesbian Community. Journal of Bisexuality (2004) 3, 25-55. Discusses conflicting interpretations of Hart's identity.

2004, April-May

Hart and Cushman's story was featured in a second historical exhibition at Stanford University: "Creating Queer Space at Stanford: Pages From a Student Scrapbook," which was on display in April and May 2004 in the second floor lobby of Tresidder Memorial Union on the Stanford campus. The exhibition was curated by independent scholar Gerard Koskovich, with Stanford undergraduate Hunter Hargraves serving as associate curator.

2009-2012

Morgen Alix Young. "Alan Hart (1890-1962)". Oregon Encyclopedia - Oregon History and Culture. Portland State University.

2008, October 29

Petra H begins Wikipedia entry on Alan L. Hart. A note on Wikipedia says that this was "Re-written from the notes and essays on Hart collected by Petra H. over several years. Where now available on-line sources have been sought as references."

2009, December 3

Koskovich, Gerard. "Gay at Stanford: Past, Present and Future" (panel discussion sponsored by the Stanford Historical Society at Stanford University, Dec. 3, 2009). Koskovich was one of three presenters; his talk mentions Hart as a forbear of the transgender rights movement. A podcast of the panel is available on the Stanford Historical Society website.