Batch Records
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
label: Collection Creator
content: Orr, Craig
setName: label: See more items in
content: Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Records
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1920s-1940s
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0329, Series 5
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: Consists of 5" x 7" order slips detailing product tests. A batch record follows a batch of a certain pharmaceutical product. Information contained in a batch record includes the quantity of ingredients, both active and inactive, and the quantities of each material used in production. It is printed from a master formula card on a blue print card, and each batch record has a lot number recorded on it. This allowed quality control officials to follow the production of each batch of product easily. Much of the collection consists of batch records, finishing production orders, and package orders which detailed the testing, production, and formulae of various pharmaceutical products produced by Norwich Eaton from the 1920s to 1940s. In response to several injuries and deaths caused by taking tainted pharmaceutical products, many companies including Norwich Eaton, initiated quality control measures in the early 1940s. In partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the companies too measures that included batch records, finishing production orders, and package orders, and carefully followed manufacture and packaging procedures. If discrepancies occurred, these would be noted and allow the company time to dispose of potentially dangerous materials before they reached the American public for consumption.