Ortho-Novum Oral Contraceptive
date: label: date made
content: ca 1963
name: label: maker
content: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: 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. Manufacturers of birth control pills 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This is the first DialPak dispenser manufactured by the Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation of Raritan, New Jersey, in 1963. The DialPak contained a monthly regimen of 20 white pills. The DialPak was the first oral contraceptive package to incorporate a “memory aid,” which Ortho advertised as “the package that remembers for her.” The circular calendar in the center of the DialPak lists the days of the week and each day aligns with a pill on the outer ring. The user turned the dial to dispense the next pill, and the user could readily see if she had taken her daily pill.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The DialPak was based on a design patented by David P. Wagner.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Women's Health
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Birth Control
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Company, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2000.0090.10
label: accession number
content: 2000.0090
label: catalog number
content: 2000.0090.10
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: norethindrone (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: mestranol (drug active ingredients)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 cm x 6.5 cm; 3/8 in x 2 9/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/8 in x 2 1/2 in; .9525 cm x 6.35 cm