Ovulen-28 Oral Contraceptive
date: label: date made
content: ca 1977
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: G. D. Searle and Company of Chicago, Illinois, produced this Ovulen-28 brand oral contraceptive around 1977. This 28-pill blister pack is contained in Searle’s trademarked “Compack” plastic case. The monthly dosage is arranged in four rows of 7 pills, with the day of the week at the top of each column. The pack includes a pamphlet on proper usage. To maintain the routine of taking a daily pill, Ovulen-28 contains a fourth week of pills that are inert. This object was donated to the Museum as a dispenser that did not come under the claims of David Wagner’s patent (seen in object 1995.0057.01).
label: Description (Brief)
content: Searle introduced Ovulen-28 in 1969. Advertisements stated, “there will be no more confusion about “off-week,” calendars and charts. No more anxiety so common to women who have more on their minds than medication.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Puerto Rico: San Juan, San Juan
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: David P. Wagner
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1995.0057.06
label: catalog number
content: 1995.0057.06
label: accession number
content: 1995.0057
objectType: label: Object Name
content: medication dispenser
label: Object Name
content: oral contraceptive
label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
label: Object Name
content: medicine dispenser
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (instructions leaflet material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (tablet dispenser case material)
label: Physical Description
content: mestranol, 0.1 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: ethynodiol diacetate, 1 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: foil, aluminum (blister pack material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9.8 cm x 6.4 cm x 1 cm; 3 7/8 in x 2 1/2 in x 3/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/8 in x 3 7/8 in x 2 1/2 in; .9525 cm x 9.8425 cm x 6.35 cm