Oil of Tar
date: label: Date made
content: 1883
notes: label: Description
content: One of 174 specimens of essential oils used in pharmacy donated by McKesson & Robbins in 1883 to the Section of Materia Medica, U. S. National Museum. Soon after the Section of Materia Medica was established in 1881, curator James M. Flint, a Navy Surgeon, began soliciting examples of pharmaceutical products from a few major American drug wholesalers such as McKesson & Robbins. Only about fifty of these specimens remain in the collection as of 2023.
label: Description
content: In 1833, John McKesson and Charles Olcott established a drug import and wholesale business in New York City. The company was renamed McKesson & Robbins in 1853 when Daniel Robbins became a partner after Olcott’s death. The company soon expanded into drug manufacturing providing a full line of acids, extracts, elixirs, pills, syrups, tinctures, wines and waters, as well as the essential oils used in medicine, flavoring, and perfumery.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: McKesson and Robbins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.053117
label: accession number
content: 13128
label: catalog number
content: 053117
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Pharmaceutical
label: Other Terms
content: Pharmaceutical; Tar, Oil of; Pharmaceuticals; Drugs; Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11.6 cm x 3.8 cm x 3.8 cm; 4 9/16 in x 1 1/2 in x 1 1/2 in