Beijing Pharmaceutical Oral Contraceptive [Compound Norgestrol Pill - A Short-Acting Contaceptive Pill]
date: label: date made
content: 1988
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: The Beijing Pharmaceutical Factory in Beijing, China, produced these oral contraceptive pills around 1985. This box contains 50 bottles, with each bottle containing 22 pills. Manufacturers used 22 pill regimens in the belief that patient reliability was improved if each new cycle of tablets could begin and end on the same fixed day of the week. The box describes these as polypharmacy norgestrel pills, a combination of .3 mg of norgestrel with .03 mg of ethinyl estradiol. The label bears the crane logo of the manufacturer, and the blue stamped numbers to the crane’s left are the government approval marking.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: China: Beijing Shi, Beijing
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 Kiehl's Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0196.214
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0196.214
label: accession number
content: 1989.0196
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
label: Other Terms
content: Pharmaceutical; Pills
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (box material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (label, inserts material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (vial material)
label: Physical Description
content: estradiol, 0.03 mg. (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: norethisterone, .3 mg. (drug active ingredients)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.8 cm x 14.2 cm x 7.5 cm; 1 1/2 in x 5 9/16 in x 2 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall, box: 1 3/4 in x 5 5/8 in x 3 1/4 in; 4.445 cm x 14.2875 cm x 8.255 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, bottle: 1 3/8 in x 1/2 in; x 3.4925 cm x 1.27 cm