Demulen Oral Contraceptive
date: label: date made
content: ca 1975
name: label: maker
content: G. D. Searle and Company
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. 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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Searle & Company produced this Demulen brand oral contraceptive in San Juan, Puerot Rico, around 1975. Searle was the first company to manufacture birth control pills. The Demulen pills came in a yellow plastic compact case. Inside the compact is a 21-pill blister pack that organizes the monthly pill regimen into weekly rows, labeled by day of the week. The starter kit includes a prescription blank and a paper insert with directions for use for the patient, as well as a promotional booklet for “the Pill.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Puerto Rico: San Juan, Puerto Rico
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 Gladys Abell and Lester D. Johnson, Jr., M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0760.012.A
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0760.012.A
label: accession number
content: 1981.0760
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ethynodiol diacetate, 1 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: ethinyl estradiol, .05 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18.7 cm x 11.2 cm x 1 cm; 7 3/8 in x 4 7/16 in x 3/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/4 in x 4 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in; 1.905 cm x 11.43 cm x 19.05 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, pill pack: 3/8 in x 3 5/8 in x 2 in; .9525 cm x 9.2075 cm x 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, booklet: 1/8 in x 3 5/8 in x 4 1/2 in; .3175 cm x 9.2075 cm x 11.43 cm