Balm of America: Patent Medicine Collection

About the Collection
The Smithsonian Institution began to collect objects related to health and medicine in 1881. It first obtained examples of patent medicines in 1930, acquiring packages of Haarlem Oil (or Dutch Drops), Dr. John Hooper’s Female Pills, and Roche’s Herbal Embrocation. Since then the Smithsonian’s collection of patent medicines has expanded to over 4,000 products, dating from the 19th century to the present day.

About this Object Group
This group of objects features examples from this collection, found in the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History. Each entry includes a photo of the object, the product’s name, maker’s name, place of manufacture, and a date range. Ingredients and therapeutic claims are included when indicated on the product packaging.

Browse
Browse the collection by therapeutic category. You can also use the keyword search (at right) which searches all fields of information.

More Information
Learn more about patent medicine history and how this history is revealed in examples from our collection. Questions or comments? Contact us.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
collection
Reid Drugstore
maker
Mead Johnson Laboratories
ID Number
1984.0351.138
accession number
1984.0351
catalog number
1984.0351.138
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.079
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.079
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.082
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.082
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
collection
Reid Drugstore
maker
Foley and Company
ID Number
1984.0351.072
accession number
1984.0351
catalog number
1984.0351.072
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.077
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.077
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.064
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.064
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1968
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.107
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.107
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1959
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.085
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.085
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1967
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.058
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.058
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.080
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.080
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1909
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.101
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.101
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1969
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.046
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.046
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1973
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.102
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.102
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960's
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.087
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.087
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.062
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.062
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1967
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.047
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.047
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960's
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.088
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
v
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1976
maker
Morton - Norwich Products
ID Number
1986.0198.049
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.049
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1966
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.084
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.084
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1956
maker
Norwich Pharmacal Company
ID Number
1986.0198.074
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.074
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1984
maker
Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals
ID Number
1986.0198.017
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.017
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1980
maker
Morton - Norwich Products
ID Number
1986.0198.031
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.031
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1980
maker
Morton - Norwich Products
ID Number
1986.0198.030
accession number
1986.0198
catalog number
1986.0198.030
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
collection
Reid Drugstore
maker
Price Compound Company
ID Number
1984.0351.126
accession number
1984.0351
catalog number
1984.0351.126

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.