Health & Medicine - Overview
The Museum's collections of medical science artifacts represent nearly all aspects of health and medical practice. Highlights include early X-ray apparatuses, such as one of Wilhelm Roentgen's tubes, penicillin mold from Alexander Fleming’s experiments, and Jonas Salk's original polio vaccine. More recent acquisitions include the first artificial heart implanted in a human, the earliest genetically engineered drugs, and materials related to David, the "Bubble Boy." Other artifacts range from artificial limbs and implant devices to bloodletting and dental instruments, beauty products, and veterinary equipment. The contents of a medieval apothecary shop and an 1890s drugstore form part of the collections, along with patent and alternative medicines. The collections also document the many differing perspectives on health and medical issues, from patients, family members, doctors, nurses, medical students, and out-of-the-mainstream health practitioners.
"Health & Medicine - Overview" showing 17 items.
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button, Pride+Unity
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this 1993 one from New York City.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1993
- maker
- N. G. Slater Corp.
- ID Number
- 1999.0263.17
- accession number
- 1999.0263
- catalog number
- 1999.0263.17
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Shock is Elder Abuse
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one. It is a criticism of electro-convulsive shock treatment, used on people with psychiatric disabilities.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2000.0030.01
- accession number
- 2000.0030
- catalog number
- 2000.0030.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Equality, Justice & Access for All ADA...
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one that supports the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1990
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2004.3055.02
- accession number
- 2004.3055
- catalog number
- 2004.3055.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Independence Day 1 July 26 1990 ADA...
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one, distributed to people who attended the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act by President George H. W. Bush on July 26th, 1990.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1990
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2004.3055.03
- accession number
- 2004.3055
- catalog number
- 2004.3055.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Equal Rights Are Not Special Rights
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1998
- maker
- Northern Sun
- ID Number
- 2010.0130.07
- catalog number
- 2010.0130.07
- accession number
- 2010.0130
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, Attitudes Are The Biggest Disability
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred pin-back buttons related to disability, including this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1998
- maker
- Northern Sun
- ID Number
- 2010.0130.14
- catalog number
- 2010.0130.14
- accession number
- 2010.0130
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
pin, President's Committee on Mental Retardation
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. NMAH has several hundred buttons related to disability, including this one. It was created by the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation in 1991 to mark its 25th anniversary. The Committee’s name was changed in 2003 to President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1991
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2010.0130.26
- catalog number
- 2010.0130.26
- accession number
- 2010.0130
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
button, AIDS 12TH ANNUAL WALK WASHINGTON
- Description (Brief)
- Pin-back buttons serve many purposes. They are efficient advertising vehicles, handy for fund-raising in support of a cause, concise statements of a person’s beliefs, a form of educational outreach, and convenient ice-breakers for conversation. This button is a souvenir of the 1998 AIDS Walk in Washington, D.C.
- date made
- 1998
- ID Number
- 1998.0275.02
- catalog number
- 1998.0275.02
- accession number
- 1998.0275
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Preven Emergency Contraceptive Kit
- Description (Brief)
- 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.
- Gynétics Medical Products of Somerville, New Jersey, produced this Preven emergency contraceptive kit around 1999. The kit contains a patient information book, a pregnancy test, and four pills in two pairs inside a silver blister pack. The kit opens into three panels bearing step-by-step instructions on how to use the emergency contraceptive kit.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1999
- maker
- Gynetics
- ID Number
- 1999.0226.1
- catalog number
- 1999.0226.1
- accession number
- 1999.0226
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Preven Demonstration Emergency Contraceptive Kit
- Description (Brief)
- 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.
- Gynétics Medical Products of Somerville, New Jersey, produced this Preven demonstration emergency contraceptive kit around 1999. The kit contains a patient information book, a pregnancy test, and four pills in two pairs inside a silver blister pack. The kit opens into three panels bearing step-by-step instructions on how to use the emergency contraceptive kit. Unlike the version of Preven seen in object 1999.0226.1, this kit was for demonstration purposes only.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1999
- maker
- Gynetics
- ID Number
- 1999.0226.2
- catalog number
- 1999.0226.2
- accession number
- 1999.0226
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center