Object Details
- Parke Davis
- Description (Brief)
- The popularity of “the Pill” created a new market for pharmaceutical companies. For the first time, healthy women would be taking medication for an extended period of time. Pill manufacturers developed unique packaging in order to distinguish their product from those of their competitors and build brand loyalty. Packaging design often incorporated a “memory aid” to assist women in tracking their daily pill regimen, as well as styled cases to allow pills to be discreetly carried in bags and purses. The National Museum of American History’s Division of Medicine and Science’s collection of oral contraceptives illustrates some of the changes that the packaging and marketing of the Pill underwent from its inception in 1960 to the present.
- Parke-Davis and Company of Detroit, Michigan produced this Loestrin FE 1.5/30 brand oral contraceptive around 1981. To maintain the routine of taking a daily pill, many manufacturers began including a fourth week of pills that were supplements or inert. This Loestrin regimen contains 28 pills, including 7 tablets that were iron supplements (FE, elemental symbol for iron). Included is a pamphlet entitled “What you should know about ‘the pill.’” The pills came in a white plastic compact case decorated with pale yellow flowers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- The Fournet Drugstore Collection
- ca 1981
- ID Number
- 1985.0475.138
- catalog number
- 1985.0475.138
- accession number
- 1985.0475
- Object Name
- contraceptive, oral
- Physical Description
- norethindrone acetate, 1.5 mg (drug (green tablet) active ingredients)
- ferrous fumarate, 75 mg (drug (brown tablet) active ingredients)
- plastic (compact material)
- ethinyl estradiol, 30 mcg (drug active ingredients)
- cardboard (box material)
- paper (insert material)
- Measurements
- overall: 9.5 cm x 6.7 cm x 4.5 cm; 3 3/4 in x 2 5/8 in x 1 3/4 in
- overall, box: 2 3/4 in x 3 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in; 6.985 cm x 9.525 cm x 4.445 cm
- overall, pill case: 2 1/2 in x 3 3/4 in x 1/4 in; 6.35 cm x 9.525 cm x .635 cm
- place made
- Puerto Rico: Fajardo, Fajardo
- associated place
- United States: Louisiana, Saint Martinville
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- Birth Control
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Birth Control/Contraception
- Women's Health
- Record ID
- nmah_1377432
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-fa72-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
