Oral Contraceptives (Family Planning Pills)
name: label: maker
content: Wyeth Laboratories
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: Wyeth Laboratories of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, manufactured these oral contraceptives during the late 20th century. The logo of the “blue lady” taking her pill adorned all U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) oral contraceptive packages that were distributed to worldwide family planning programs. Compared to other oral contraceptives of the time, these USAID pills are packaged very simply, lacking any kind of discreet container or memory aid. The "blue lady" packaging was introduced in the late 1960s in order to standardize packaging, provide three months supply in one package, and to provide adequate protection for the pills in tropical conditions. This packet contains three cycles of 28 pills, with 21 white hormonal tablets and 7 tablets of iron supplements.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
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 Margaret Sanger Center
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0531.040
label: accession number
content: 1982.0531
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0531.040
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
label: Other Terms
content: Contraceptives; Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: norgestrel, 0.5 mg. (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: ethinyl estradiol, 0.05 mg. (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: ferrous fumarate, 75 mg. (drug active ingredients)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13.1 cm x 16.4 cm x 1 cm; 5 5/32 in x 6 15/32 in x 13/32 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/8 in x 6 3/8 in x 3/8 in; 13.0175 cm x 16.1925 cm x .9525 cm