#Alan L. Hart

[wings-1927]

ALAN L HART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wyrmghost]

So I just want to share this research paper I wrote my senior year on Alan L. Hart, I poured my heart into this thing and still had to cut soil ass stuff duo to word count restraints. I had to constantly email my highschool’s administrators because the sites I was using (which where college databases of documents and an old newspaper database) kept being blocked, thank you to my English teacher, Mr. Wood, who listened to my rambling about how cool I found this and how annoyed I was when trying to find sources (they where very difficult to find but I was dead seton getting good sources, and alot of them misgendered the man) and then the following anger when my really awesome database got blocked for almost a week.

Also it took me half way through editing this paper to realize that he and I share a birthday and that made my day.

[everybodysinvited]

Trans History! - Alan L. Hart

It's Trans Awareness Month and Trans Awareness Week! ✨🎉

So to celebrate, let's look at some historical trans and gender-non-conforming people! Starting with Alan L. Hart, a trans man, medical pioneer and writer.

Whilst words like 'transgender' and 'non-binary' etc, have only been in the public lexicon in recent decades, the experiences and identities they represent have always existed and it's so important (and interesting!) that we look at these historic figures as proof that queer, has always been here. I have a couple more people for these posts lined up, but if you have any other historic figures you'd like me to research and illustrate, please sound off in the comments!

Text & image descriptions in ALT

[makingqueerhistory]

Alan L. Hart (1890-1962), a doctor and novelist. Records show that from a young age, Hart was not comfortable with the gender he was assigned at birth nor the roles that came along with it. Alan himself made this very clear, telling his parents that if they let him cut his hair, he could finally become a boy. After his father had died when he was just two years old, he told his mother he would be the “man of the house” now. While his mother called this foolish, there wasn’t much more backlash from his family on this issue.

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[astarion-dekarios]

Dr. Alan L. Hart’s Unpublished Autobiography

Dr. Alan Hart, celebrated physician and pioneer of the x-ray photography in the detection of tuberculosis, was one of the first transgender men to receive gender confirmation surgery in the United States. Although his will stipulated that his personal papers and photographs be destroyed, earlier in his life he expressed a serious desire to publish an autobiography describing his experience as a trans man and doctor, to the point of writing out a manuscript which he sent, along with letters detailing his experience, to Mary Roberts Rinehart, renowned mystery writer[1]. The manuscript was never published and was probably destroyed, making his account of his experience in the letters the closest thing we have to his autobiography.  You can find the digitized copy of the letters in the note below, but I’ve also included a transcription under the cut for accessibility purposes.

[1] A. L. Hart to Mary Roberts Rinehart, 3 August 1921. SC.1958.03, box 21, folder 8, Mary Roberts Rinehart Papers, ULS Archives and Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt:31735037971201/viewer#page/19/mode/2up

Thermopolis, Wyoming.

August 3, 1921.

 Mrs. Mary Roberts Rinehart,

c/o Eaton’s Ranch,

Sheridan, Wyoming.

 My dear Mrs. Rinehart:

              I should not have the temerity to approach you as I am doing were it not for two things: First, the fact that both you and Dr. Rinehart belong to the medical world – of which I, too, am a part – and second, my conviction that you are as big and liberal-minded as your stories would indicate. So I venture to ask that you will read my letter and consider it.

              I was graduated from the Medical School of the University of Oregon (in Portland) in 1917 at the age of 27. Until that time – thru common school, High School. University and professional school – I lived as a woman. Shortly before my graduation I consulted a psychiatrist in Portland, Dr. Gilbert, a physician of established reputation; and with him made a complete study of my case, my individual history and that of my family. This was followed by a complete, careful physical examination. The diagnosis arrived at may be summarized as follows: Complete, congenital and incurable Homosexuality together with a marked modification of the physical organization from the feminine type.

              At this stage in my career, life had become so unbearable that I felt myself confronted by only two alternative courses – either to kill myself or refuse to live longer in my misfit role of a woman. I chose the latter, and submitted myself for an exploratory laperotomy for the purpose of establishing definitely and indisputably my proper role, with the result that I left the hospital as a man.

              To say the least, the situation in which I now found myself, bristled with difficulties. My family did not know of my operation nor of my transformation; neither did my most intimate friends. I was faced with the problem of making a living and my way in the world alone. It was in war time and my eligibility for the military service was an open question. The legality of the whole procedure was uncertain. The legal phase of the matter was taken up and attended to for me by Judge John B. Cleland of Portland, Oregon. Since I dreaded ridicule and publicity, and feared my friends might feel themselves embarrassed by what I had done, I resolved simply to drop out of their ken, and with that in view, secured an interneship in the City and County Hospital in San Fransisco and went there to take up my duties as soon as I was able to do so.

              My work went smoothly and well and things seemed in a fair way to adjust themselves, when by chance I was recognized at a public clinic by a young woman physician who had attended university at the same time I did. She spread the story among her acquaintances in the hospitals of the city, that I had once dressed as a woman and was now posing as a man. This coming to my ears, I went to the Superintendent of our hospital – told him the truth of the case – showed him my documentary proofs and voluntarily resigned. He gave me assurance that he would squelch any further notoriety about the hospital. Imagine my feelings, therefore, only a few days later, to open the Examiner one morning and find a garbled account of the whole thing smeared in broad head-lines across the page. The story was carefully written to convey the impression that I was a rank imposter and had fled before the righteous indignation of the authorities; it had been inspired by the young woman who had recognized me and the heads of the hospital I had just left.

              I took my letters and statements and went with them to the editor of the Examiner. He realized, at once, that his paper was being used as an instrument of spite and killed the story in the city and stopped further stuff from going out over the Associated Press.

              I was more or less stunned by what had happened. I had been prepared for criticism and ridicule – I was accustomed to them. But it had never occurred to me that people might want to hound and persecute me for my change in role. I had lived as a woman because that was my social standing, and had been made fun of and called ‘half-man, and now when I had faced the situation and righted the grotesquely false position in which I had lived so long, it seemed that the public would damn me because I had once, perforce, worn skirts. I tried to get other hospital work. I went to the men who had been my chiefs and told them the truth and asked their aid in securing another position; to a man they turned me down. I tried to get other sorts of work and failed for the same reason as soon as I gave my name. Then my family employed counsel and instituted proceedings to have my name legally changed; and the medical school from which I had been graduated served notice on us that if we persisted they would rescind my diploma and have me disbarred from practice.

              Finally, I made up my mind to ‘face the music’ without any attempt at concealment, so I went back home to the little town where I had been raised and gone to school. That was the hardest thing I ever did. This over, I went down into the woods in Southern Oregon and ran a hospital for the lumbermen and spruce boys until the Influenza had passed and the war was over. In the early Spring of 1918, I came to Montana and located at Huntley, a few miles east of Billings where I practiced until last February. Crops have been very poor in Montana for several years and that made collections very slow; the work was hard and trying, covering as it did a territory seventy miles long. I was anxious to work into X-Ray and diagnosis instead of general country practise, so I came last Spring to Thermopolis to be Roentgenologist and Pathologise in Dr. Hamilton’s hospital here. So far as I know my history is not known to anyone in this part of the country.

              To establish the authenticity of my story and give you some side-lights upon it, I am enclosing a number of letters from Dr. Gilbert and others, relative to my predicament. Dr. Gilbert is a man well known in his specialty. He published a detailed medical account of the whole affair in The Jounral of Nervous and Mental Diseases for October, 1920. I should be glad to furnish you with a reprint of this article, at a future time, should you care to see it.

              As you will observe in these letters, Dr. Gilbert has always urged me to write and publish my own story. In the height of my trouble in 1918, I wrote a first-draft of an auto-biography – or rather it boiled out from me without let or hindrance. This Spring I have gone over it and re-written it with a view to publication. The manuscript is now in the hands of the copyist. I want to ask you to read it and give me your opinion of it and advise me as to its publication.

              I do not wish to sail under false colors, and so I will admit at once that my motives are not altogether altruistic in this. My purpose in writing the book has been serious – and my hope that it might accomplish some good for my fellow-unfortunates, very strong – but there is another side to the matter: It is a grave undertaking to bare one’s whole heart before the world; and it is too much to expect a man to do so without reward. I had neither money nor backing when I embarked upon my career as a man four years ago this month; I have had every inch of the way to fight; I have asked no favors from anyone. But it has been mighty hard work and nerve-racking and I am tired. I have never asked for sympathy nor do I want it; I am still capable of standing on my two legs that have held me up for thirty-one years. But if I can make something out of this book, it will relieve the financial pressure and make life much easier and pleasanter for me. So I admit that my motives are mixed; but whose are not?

              I have read many of your stories – you are the only writer I know who can get the right atmosphere for things medical. I have also read your accounts of your trips thru the West and your husband’s articles in the Post. Will you pardon the slang, if I say that these have given me a hunch that you are ‘regular fellows’? And because of this, I have dared to intrude myself upon you. I shall be more than grateful, if you will allow me to send you the manuscript and give me a personal interview before you return East. I want your criticism and advice.

              I have made some notations on the letters enclosed to orient them properly in the current of events. These papers I should like to have returned as I value them highly. I have had to throw overboard almost all the associations and friendships and foundations of the first twenty-seven years of my life; the little that is left, I prize.

              I shall await a reply from you with eagerness.

              Very sincerely yours,

A. L. Hart

 THE HOPEWELL HOSPITAL Thermopolis, Wyoming.

A. G. HAMILTON, M. D. CHIEF SURGEON

August 12, 1921.

My dear Mrs. Rinehart:

              It is hard for me to tell you what my feelings were when I had read your letter. I had hoped but hardly dared expect courtesy and understanding of this type. I appreciate it with my whole heart.

              I understand your hesitation in expressing an opinion as to the feasibility of publication, especially in view of the character of the subject-matter. It will mean a good deal to me to have you read the manuscript. It will go forward to you tomorrow.

              As much as I shall value an opinion of yours on this manuscript, I am even more interested to know whether you will think I have any gift for writing. When I was younger I was interested in literature, and wrote a little while I was in college. Then for ten years the writing instinct was entirely submerged. During the past year it has cropped out again. My time is pretty well taken up, but I have been writing in spare hours a sort of journal of a doctor’s life. It seems to me that a physician’s life is richer than most men’s in the elements of both tragedy and comedy; but more than that I want to picture his own individuality – the graduation with high ideals of service in his profession and bounding ambition, the struggle to make a living and pay the bills, the fight to keep his idealism in the face of ungrateful patients and fee-splitting, cut-rate competitors, the flickering down of his desire to serve as he sees the quack’s commercial success, the waning of youth and its enthusiasms and courage under the burden of the mid-day, the occasional flarings of the old ambitions and hopes and the slowly-dawning realization that the heights are for only the few among whose number he is not, the final determination to play out the game as it has been given him and go out of the world a ‘good sport’ if nothing else. The whole thing a sort of resume of the flickering and blazing and dying of the torch of life. Is the idea worth anything, or am I wasting my time trying to write it down?

              I shall be obliged to go to Billings in a very short time to attend to some business connected with my property in Montana. If it would not be asking too much, I should like above all things to go down and meet you and Doctor Rinehart, as much as anything else to express my appreciation of your good sportsmanship more fittingly.

                                            I am

                                                           Very sincerely yours,

                                                                                                 A. L. Hart

[smilesandexits]

thank u @sinceremercy for informing me that a new edition of a book i’ve been looking for for like 4+ years is coming out i’m finally going to get to read The Undaunted and im so excited

[therealmrpositive]

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

In today's review I find that the face of terror might have to skip a generation. As I attempt a #positive review of the 1988 film Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers. #DonaldPleasence #EllieCornell #DanielleHarris #MichaelPataki #BeauStarr

Habits are hard to break, there’s typically a compelling reason to keep them, as will become apparent as soon as you stop. In creative projects there’s usually a lot of money ventured, so hoping that lightning will strike not just twice but frequently is not only encouraged but the tried and tested strategy. Especially when fans are clamouring for a return to the originals. In 1988, almost 10…

[rookie-critic]

Die Hard (1988, dir. John McTiernan) - review by Rookie-Critic

Where the HELL have I been for 29 years not watching Die Hard?! For real, I have no conceptual understanding of why I have chosen, CHOSEN not to watch this until now. So much time wasted not knowing the glorious beauty of John McClane fighting against the German thieves in Nakatomi Plaza on Christmas Eve. I haven't had this much fun watching an action movie in quite a long time. This movie is superbly acted, the action is crazy, intense, and complete spectacle in the greatest sense of the word, and, outside of a few pieces of the story that seem a little convoluted and nonsensical (the way the last lock on the safe works is completely asinine), it is cleverly written as well. The way both John McClane and Hans Gruber maneuver around each other is action/suspense at its most potent, and both Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman bring the perfect amount of bravado to their roles without spilling into camp territory, something that the 80s had a bad habit of falling into. Not that camp is necessarily bad or negative, just that it has a tendency to not get done right and turn cringey instead of humorous. Additionally, can we give some mad respect to the costume and makeup departments for making sure that Bruce Willis looked just absolutely wrecked by the end of the film? He is the dirtiest person I have ever seen by the time the credits start rolling and I just find that minor detail so unbelievably satisfying.

My singular complaint, which is a total shame because I so badly want to call this a perfect action movie, is that we take too long to get to the good stuff. This movie is a whopping 2 hours and 12 minutes, which, when compared to more modern spectacles such as Avatar: The Way of Water or Avengers: Endgame, seems cute, but really that's a long action movie compared to Die Hard's contemporaries. The movie could have been cut down by at least 20 minutes to remove some of the unnecessary setup and in-betweens so that the film could just be non-stop McClane v. Gruber insanity. However, even with that complaint, I was still sad it was over when the credits started rolling, and I think that Die Hard has become a new Christmas tradition for me.

Score: 9/10

Currently streaming on Starz.

Also, Die Hard is, 1,000,000%, infinity %, forever and for all time, absolutely a Christmas movie. I don't see how anybody can even half pay attention to Die Hard's story and still think it's not a Christmas movie. The office Christmas party, the giant Christmas tree that pervades every single outside shot of Nakatomi Plaza, the semi-frequent jokes about the fact that this takes place on Christmas Eve, the credits song being "Let It Snow." Christmas is vomited across the landscape of this entire film, and anyone that doesn't think this belongs in the Christmas film canon is fooling themselves.

[genderkoolaid]

its funny/sad whenever there's a headline that's like First (in X Country) Trans Man to Give Birth!!!!! because there is absolutely no way that is true. trans men have been giving birth to their own children since time immemorial it's just that western culture has not given a single fuck about our lives and our identities enough to record information, much less respect it, until extremely extremely recently. we can barely get folks to call james barry or alan l. hart trans men today, you think you'd know if someone's 19 year old housewife felt like a man?

[tulliok]

For the trans Trixie anon, they should look into Dora Richter and the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, which was a progressive research institute for gender and sexuality in the Weimar Republic during the 1920s. For more USAmerican examples of trans people in the early-mid 20th century: Lucy Hicks Anderson, Alan L. Hart, Billy Tipton, and of course, Christine Jorgensen.

!!!!

[uncanny-tranny]

What are some good things you like about transmasculinity?

(Im a few months out from starting T and feeling very non-valid/a failure right now.)

I'd love to hear what you like about it!

Hey, friend, I hope you're alright. Transmasculinity is a beautiful thing, no matter where you are in your jouney

I love...

The unique experiences of every transmasculine person - no matter if those experiences are completely unlike mine

The way people transition, if that means being on testosterone, getting surgery, tattoos, piercings, whatever it is or is not

So much of the community is so adamant about justice. There are so many feminists and people who want to make the world a good place and people making theory about transmasculinity and it's awesome

The history of transmasculinity... I love reading about historical trans men and transmasculine people - Billy Tipton, Harry Allen, Michael Dillon, Dr. Alan L. Hart - the list goes on, truly

I love our interactions with the queer community. I love seeing drag queens who are transmasculine, for instance - Gottmik was the first trans guy I saw doing drag on a large level

How beautiful testosterone is... I love how it has impacted my physical and mental states. I love seeing people expressing their own joys with this hormone, too.

The openness about our experiences. I love how cathartic it can be to talk to others who have had similar experiences, whether that is positive or negative

There is good to be had here, even if it can feel so isolating. There are so many good things about transmasculinity, even in the painful moments. Please, if you remember anything about this post, make it this.

[thedisabilitybookarchive]

Queer Disability in Historical Fiction

[ID: A poster. Large white text in the centre reads "Queer Disability In Historical Fiction". In the upper left corner, smaller black text reads "Disability in Books". The background is a wood grain pattern, with the top and bottom of bordered by a row of book tops. In the upper right corner, the logo for the Disability Book Archive. In the lower left corner, the disability pride flag in the shape of a heart, and the rainbow pride flag, in the shape of smaller heart slightly layered on top. In the lower right corner, a stack of cartoonish books. /end]

[ID: The same poster. The text and stack of books has been removed. The hearts and logo have shrunken in size. There are 7 book covers. From left to right, the covers are: "The Undaunted" by Alan Hart, "The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue" by Mackenzi Lee, "An Unseen Attraction" by K. J. Charles, "The Bedlam Stacks" by Natasha Pulley, "Danial Cabot Puts Down Roots" by Cat Sebastian, "Deathless Divide" by Justina Ireland, and "The Degenerates" by J. Albert Mann. /end]

[ID: The same poster. The book covers have been replaced. From left to right, the covers are: "The Doctor's Discretion" by E. E. Ottoman, "Fortune Favors the Dead" by Stephen Spotswood, "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao, "One For All" by Lillie Lainoff, "The Pursuit Of..." by Courtney Milan, "The Reanimator's Heart" by Kara Jorgenson, and "Torch" by Lyn Miller-Lachmann. /end]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 [22 rainbow pride flag emojis]

A list of 14 historical fiction books featuring queer, disabled, and queer-disabled characters and themes!

I want to note that, at the moment, The Undaunted and The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue are yet to be added to the archive, but are on the list.

Also, The Undaunted by Alan Hart is a particularly special addition to this list because it was published in 1936, while the rest are significantly more modern. And! The person who submitted it helpfully gave me some information about Hart himself, detailing how he became one of the first trans men in the USA to undergo a hysterectomy!

The books on this list are:

🏳️‍🌈 "The Undaunted"- Hart, Alan L.

🏳️‍🌈 "The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue"- Lee, Mackenzi

🏳️‍🌈 "An Unseen Attraction"- Charles, K. J.

🏳️‍🌈 "The Bedlam Stacks"- Pulley, Natasha

🏳️‍🌈 "Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots"- Sebastian, Cat

🏳️‍🌈 "Deathless Divide"- Ireland, Justina

🏳️‍🌈 "The Degenerates"- Mann, J. Albert

🏳️‍🌈 "The Doctor's Discretion"- Ottoman, E. E.

🏳️‍🌈 "Fortune Favors the Dead"- Spotswood, Stephen

🏳️‍🌈 "Iron Widow"- Zhao, Xiran Jay

🏳️‍🌈 "One For All"- Lainoff, Lillie

🏳️‍🌈 "The Pursuit Of..."- Milan, Courtney

🏳️‍🌈 "The Reanimator's Heart"- Jorgenson, Kara

🏳️‍🌈 "Torch"- Miller-Lachmann, Lyn

Most books on this list can be found on the Disability Book Archive!

Happy Pride Month!

[antiterf]

So a while ago I requested a book from the Open Library/Internet Archive and they actually added it fairly recently!

It's Dr. Finley Sees it Through by Alan L. Hart. I requested it because Hart is one of the first trans men to get a hysterectomy in the U.S. and was a radiologist who made significant strides in the identification of tuberculosis. I did a presentation on him like three years ago, but here's the basic Wiki article.

I wanted to find copies of his books prior, but they didn't seem to be preserved at the time and it worried me. So to see one in the internet archive is amazing and gives me a sense of relief.

[crossdreamers]

You have probably seen how transphobes refer to corrective gender surgery and hormone replacement therapy as "experimental" and therefore "dangerous". The fact is that there are few medical procedures that have so much history behind them.

In 1917, Alan L. Hart, an American tuberculosis specialist, became one of the first trans men to undergo hysterectomy and gonadectomy as treatment of gender dysphoria.

The first male to female patient of this kind was Dora Richter in Berlin in 1922.

In other words: We have had surgery and hormone treatments for trans people for more than a hundred years!

Trans woman and scholar of transgender history G. Samantha Rosenthal of Roanoke College writes:

I also learned that gender-affirming hormone therapies have been prescribed to cisgender youths for generations – despite what contemporary politicians may think. Disability scholar Eli Clare has written of the history and continued practice of prescribing hormones to boys who are too short and girls who are too tall for what is considered a “normal” range for their gender.... For over half a century, legal and medical authorities in the U.S. have also approved and administered surgeries and hormone therapies to force the bodies of intersex children to conform to binary gender stereotypes.

Rosenthal concludes that that opposition to treatments of trans people is not about the safety of any specific medications or procedures, but rather their use specifically by transgender people.

More here.

Photo of Christine Jorgensen, who received gender-affirming treatments in the 1950s (Getty Images).

[makingqueerhistory]

Do you have any resources on transgender history? What about drag culture and its origins?

Yes absolutely! Though, it depends a little on what you are looking for, if you are looking for individual stories:

Amelio Robles Ávila

Dana de Milo

Karl M. Baer 

Zinaida Gippius 

Social Men

Jackie Shane

Holly Woodlawn 

Carmen Rupe 

Claude Cahun

Victoria Arellano 

Zdeněk Koubek 

Jeanette Schmid

Lou Sullivan 

Eleanor Rykener 

Coccinelle

Dawn Langley Hall 

Elagabalus

Billy Tipton  

Alan L. Hart 

Maryam Khatoon Molkara

Dwayne Jones

Rita Hester

Sir Ewan Forbes 

Kristina King of Sweden 

Marsha P. Johnson 

As for more overall looks at transgender history here are some books I enjoyed:

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender Kit Heyam

We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film Tre'vell Anderson with Angelica Ross

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality Sarah McBride with Joe Biden

Queer Magic: Lgbt+ Spirituality and Culture from Around the World Tomás Prower

[statecryptids]

It’s still Pride Month, so here’s an article about a pioneering trans man who made huge advances in treating tuberculosis