Object Details
- Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation
- 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.
- Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation of Raritan, New Jersey, produced this Micronor brand oral contraceptive around 1973. The 35 green pills are contained in Ortho’s trademarked DialPak dispenser. The DialPak, introduced in 1963, was the first oral contraceptive package to incorporate a “memory aid,” which Ortho advertised as “the package that remembers for her.” The center wheel of the DialPak reveals the day of the week and aligns with a pill on the outer ring. When the user turned the dial to dispense the next pill, the wheel in the center would advance a day, allowing the user to see if she had taken her pill.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Gladys Abell and Lester D. Johnson, Jr., M.D.
- after 1971
- ID Number
- 1981.0760.032
- accession number
- 1981.0760
- catalog number
- 1981.0760.032
- Object Name
- contraceptive, oral
- Other Terms
- Contraceptives; Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
- Physical Description
- norethindrone, .35 mg (drug active ingredients)
- plastic (packaging material)
- Measurements
- overall: 7.6 cm x 7.4 cm x 1.1 cm; 3 in x 2 29/32 in x 7/16 in
- overall: 1/2 in x 3 in x 3 in; 1.27 cm x 7.62 cm x 7.62 cm
- place made
- United States: New Jersey, Raritan
- 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_730778
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-904c-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
