Condums
date: label: date made
content: ca 1930s-1950s
notes: label: Description
content: This cardboard box originally held condoms. Inscriptions on the box read “ONE DOZEN / TETRATEX / GENUINE Latex / PROPHYLACTICS / MFD. BY L. E. SHUNK LATEX PRODUCTS, INC.” and “MADE IN U.S.A.” AND “AKRON, OHIO.”
label: Description
content: 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: Shunk Latex, which produced these condoms, was incorporated in 1928. The company used machines designed by John R. Gammeter (1876-1957) to create their latex condoms. Gammeter was an inventor who worked for the B. F. Goodrich Co. which was also located in Akron.
label: Description
content: In the early 20th century, Shunk condoms were made of rubber which was highly flammable. After the company experienced a major fire in their factory, they began using latex to make their condoms. Latex was more expensive but not as combustible.
label: Description
content: Unlike cheap untested condoms which were surreptitiously sold on the street, Shunk sold their condoms through a drug store. Most of their condoms were sold through the Akron Drug and Sundries Company, a drug store located in the same city as Shunk Latex. The Akron Drug and Sundries Company introduced the term TETRATEX in 1932.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Akron
topic: 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: 1983.0871.90
label: accession number
content: 1983.0871
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0871.90
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Prophylactic
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