Digital Transgender Archive

Alan Hart author photo

Alan Hart's 1942 author photograph from the dust jacket of his novel Dr. Finlay Sees It Through. Hart is pictured at the age of about 52. Dr. Alan Hart (1890-1962) was an American physician, novelist, and trans man. Hart devoted his professional life to the study and treatment of tuberculosis, particularly its diagnosis via X-ray. He was also the author of four novels on medical themes and a nonfiction book about X-rays. As a child, Hart presented as a boy when possible, and published his writing using his initials or the name Robert Allen Bamford. During his education, he wore traditionally feminine clothing before adopting a male identity permanently in his 20s. Hart began medically transitioning during medical school and lived as a man from the late 1910s until his death.