Koromex Diaphragm with Sanitary Plastic Case, Diaphragm Size 95
date: label: date made
content: 1940s-1950s
label: first trademark registration (Koromex)
content: 1925
notes: label: Description
content: Light orange-colored cardboard box containing a round white plastic case which contains one Koromex Size 95 diaphragm. "KOROMEX / 95" is printed on diaphragm. "Lanteen" is embossed on the plastic case and "95" is written in red grease pencil on the case. The case and diaphagm became mismatched prior to being acquired by the museum. Printed on the box: "Caution: Federal law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a physician" and "Manufactured by Holland-Rantos Company, Inc., New York, New York."
label: Description
content: James Noah Henry Slee, second husband of birth control advocate Margaret Sanger, established the Holland-Rantos Company in 1925. The company was the first in the United States to produce diaphragms and associated women's contraceptive products exclusively for the medical profession. The Koromex brand of diaphragm, introduced in 1925, was similar to the Mensinga diaphragms manufactured in Holland, which Slee had been smuggling into the country for Sanger's birth control clinics. Holland-Rantos became a leading supplier in the United States especially after a 1936 court case allowed medical doctors to prescribe contraceptive devices for their patients and exempted them prosecution under the Comstock Act.
label: Description
content: Reference: Tone, Andrea. Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Women's Health
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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: 1982.0531.056
label: accession number
content: 1982.0531
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0531.056
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, diaphragm
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall, box: 4 1/4 in x 4 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 10.795 cm x 10.795 cm x 1.905 cm