X Cello's Prophylactics
date: label: date made
content: Mid 20th century
notes: label: Description
content: This cardboard box originally held X Cello Prophylactics (latex condoms). The Killian Company, which manufactured these condoms, was one of the first companies to manufacture latex, as opposed to rubber, condoms.
label: Description
content: Beginning in about 1920, condom manufacturers began using latex, as opposed to rubber, for their condoms. Because rubber condom manufacturing required the addition of gasoline to create liquid rubber, condom factories which produced rubber condoms were extremely susceptible to destruction by fire. Unlike rubber, latex is not highly flammable. It also has a high tensile strength and can be stretched more easily than rubber.
label: Description
content: Beginning 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.
label: Description
content: 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 physicians could 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: By selling their condoms only in drug stores, the Killians Company was able to underscore the legitimacy of their product and to charge higher prices. During the mid-20th century, Killian became one of the largest and most successful condom manufacturers in the U.S.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: associated subject; web subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: associated subject; web subject
content: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
label: associated subject; web 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: 1983.0871.68
label: accession number
content: 1983.0871
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0871.68
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Condom
label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, condom
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/8 in x 1 5/8 in x 3/8 in; 5.3975 cm x 4.1275 cm x .9525 cm