Digital Transgender Archive

Alan Hart with college yearbook staff

The staff of the Albany College (later Lewis & Clark College) yearbook, with Alan Hart at upper right and his romantic partner Eva Cushman at upper left. 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.