Letter Regarding Predictor Pregnancy Test Advertising
date: label: date made
content: ca 1971
name: label: Associated Name
content: Crane, Margaret
label: maker
content: Crane, Margaret
notes: label: Description
content: Instruction sheet for the Predictor Pregnancy Test; sheet includes 12 images demonstrating how test is to be used
label: Description
content: Margaret Crane, the inventor of the first home pregnancy test, worked as a graphic designer for Organon, a pharmaceutical company in West Orange, New Jersey. Crane received a patent on her design in 1968. Before the development of the Predictor, women needed to consult with their physician to receive confirmation of a pregnancy. With the Predictor, a woman could learn on her own whether she was pregnant---or not.
label: Description
content: The process took about two hours and could be performed in the privacy of one’s own home. A woman who suspected she was pregnant put a few drops of urine in a test tube. She then added a chemical solution, shook the tube, and allowed it to rest for two hours. Women who were pregnant would then see a dark brown circle on a yellow background on the mirror on the bottom of the kit (if there was no pregnancy, the background remained completely yellow).
label: Description
content: The makers of the test claimed a woman could use it to detect pregnancy as early as four days after a missed period. To avoid false negatives, consumer advocates recommended testing no sooner than 14 days after a missed period. In contrast, some doctors’ offices and/or clinics waited to perform a pregnancy test until roughly 45 days after a missed period.
label: Description
content: The kit was sold in Canada and the Netherlands by the early 1970s. It took a little longer for the Predictor, which fell under the category of a “medical device,” to get FDA approval for the US; it was approved in 1976. In 1971, Canadians could buy the Predictor for approximately $5.50 (Canadian dollars). In the U.S. where ads for the predictor often appeared in ads for drug stores, it cost $7.95.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Canada: Ontarian, Montreal
topic: label: Subject
content: Pregnancy
label: web subject
content: Women's Health
label: web subject
content: Diagnostic Equipment
label: web subject
content: Women's History
label: Subject
content: Women's Health
label: Subject
content: Women Inventors
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.3123.09
label: catalog number
content: 2015.3123.09
label: nonaccession number
content: 2015.3123
objectType: label: Object Name
content: diagnostic, pregnancy test,ephemera
label: Object Name
content: advertisement ephemera, diagnostic
label: Object Name
content: advertisement, pregnancy test,
label: Object Name
content: diagnostic, pregnancy test, advertisement
label: Object Name
content: diagnostic, pregnancy test, photograph
label: Object Name
content: diagnostic, pregnancy test, letter
label: Object Name
content: diagnostic, pregnancy test, ephemera
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall, as stored: 7 in x 9 in; 17.78 cm x 22.86 cm