Harmon 21f; "Latex Lubricated Prophylactic"
date: label: date made
content: ca 1940s-1960s
name: label: maker
content: Harmon Machine Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This vending machine was manufactured by the Harmon Company of Wichita, Kansas. The machine sold condoms during the 1940s and 1950s. The front of the machine has blue and red lettering, a black painted base, a chrome knob for coin slot. Text on the label on the machine reads "Sold for the prevention of disease only" and "This machine is placed here as a public health service."
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. 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 existing penal codes allowed physicians to 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: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
label: 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: 1989.0416.005
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0416.005
label: accession number
content: 1989.0416
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Vending Machine, Condom
label: Other Terms
content: Vending Machine, Condom; Manufacturing And Dispensing Equipment