Harmon Four Column Vending Machine; "Prince Prophylactics Electronically Tested, Tex's Latex, For the Bold - Black Cat, Royal Knight Prophylactics"
date: label: date made
content: ca 1955
name: label: maker
content: Harmon Machine Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This black and white painted metal vending machine was made by the Harmon Machine Company of Wichita, Kansas around 1955. The machine sold four different types of condoms for 50 cents: Prince Condom, Tex’s Latex condom, Black Cat condoms, and Two Royal Knight condoms.
label: Description
content: The decal for Royal Knights condoms states that these items were sold to "stamp out V.D. [venereal disease]." In 1872, the Comstock Act had prohibited interstate commerce in obscene literature and immoral material. Condoms and other forms of birth control fell under the category of “immoral material.” As forbidden material, condoms were rarely advertised openly. However, during the early twentieth century, rising concerns about gonorrhea and syphilis led a growing number of public health advocates to call for condoms to be sold to prevent disease. In 1918, a court case in New York, (The People of the State of New York v Margaret H. Sanger) clarified that existing penal codes allowed physicians to prescribe condoms to prevent disease. Named after Judge Frederick Crane who wrote the opinion in the case, the Crane decision opened the door for condom manufacturers to openly advertise and sell condoms, provided they were sold as a disease preventative.
label: Description
content: Vending machines were an easy way to discreetly sell condoms.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
label: Subject
content: Sex
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0416.009
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0416.009
label: accession number
content: 1989.0416
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Vending Machine, Condom
label: Other Terms
content: Vending Machine, Condom; Manufacturing And Dispensing Equipment
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)