Ortho-Novum SQ Oral Contraceptive
date: label: date made
content: ca 1970
name: label: maker
content: Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation
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: The Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation of Raritan, New Jersey, produced this Ortho-Novum SQ brand oral contraceptive around 1965. Ortho was the first company to dispense its contraceptives in “compliance packaging.” Packaging such as this DialPak helped patients comply with their doctor’s order to take their pill daily, and advertised itself as “the package that remembers for her.” When the user turned the dial to dispense their next pill, the wheel in the center would display the day of the week, allowing the her to see if she had taken her pill that day. This regimen contained 14 white and 6 blue pills that had to be taken in order to be effective. The back of the DialPak contains instructions on how to use the DialPak.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Raritan
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 Gladys Abell and Lester D. Johnson, Jr., M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0760.044
label: accession number
content: 1981.0760
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0760.044
objectType: label: Object Name
content: contraceptive, oral
label: Other Terms
content: Contraceptives; Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: norethindrone, 2 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: mestranol, 0.08 mg (drug active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (packaging material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7.5 cm x 6.5 cm x .8 cm; 2 15/16 in x 2 9/16 in x 5/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/8 in x 2 5/8 in x 3 in; .9525 cm x 6.6675 cm x 7.62 cm