Prophylactic and Contraceptive Products that May be Sold
in Oregon by Legally Licensed Outlets during the Year 1957
(brochure)

Pro-Fo Lactic (U.S.A., 1930-40s?)

A short history of contraception and religion - Egyptian hieroglyphics from about 1550 B.C.E. describing a tampon used for contraception -
Australian douche ads (about 1900)in the "Wife's Guide and Friend"
Fresca douche powder (early 20th century, U.S.A.)
Selections from the first American edition of Married Love (first published 1918), Dr. Marie Stopes' book that was long banned in America. Dr. Stopes founded the first birth-control clinic in the British Empire, in 1921, and it's still running.
See also early contraceptive sponges disguised for other uses. Ad for Ergoapiol, treatment for painful or missing menstrual periods or other irregularities of the menstrual cycle - or for abortion, 1904. Patent medicine at this museum.

Enovid (U.S.A.) birth-control pill package & directions (1964) with booklet Planning Your Family (also 1964) addressed to married women, not single.

See an American douche set from the 1920s.
Fresca douche powder from the 1920s.
What did women do about menstruation in the past?
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
LIST OF ALL TOPICS |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
Founder/director biography |
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux |
Humor |
Huts |
Links |
Masturbation |
Media coverage of MUM |
Menarche booklets for girls and parents |
Miscellaneous |
Museum future |
Norwegian menstruation exhibit |
Odor |
Olor |
Pad, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
Underpants & panties directory |
Videos, films directory |
Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Control of Conception: An Illustrated Manual (excerpts)
Medical Aspects of Human Fertility Series Issued by the
National Committee on Maternal Health, Inc. (which Dr. Dickinson helped found)
Book by Robert Latou Dickinson, M.D. & Louise Stevens Bryant, 1931/32, U.S.A.

contraception, birth control, pregnancy, condom, douche, sponge, tampon, menstrual period,
pessary, abstinence, mother, marriage, parents, childbirth,

Below, read the REPEAT of my introduction to this book found on the first page of these excerpts:

Gynecologist, obstetrician, probably the most important sex researcher before Kinsey, artist who sketched the outdoors as well as women's genitals, supporter of Margaret Sanger (mostly), religious man, and author of many books as well as illustrator for a walking guide to New York City - that was the man who co-authored this book, Robert Latou Dickinson.

See something missing from the zillion ways to prevent having a baby? Yes, but oral hormonal contraceptives - The Pill - didn't appear on the market until decades later. Also, the remainder of the chapter not included here mentions other methods.

The Web site for the Humboldt University in Berlin writes this about the artist-doctor (I added the red emphasis):

Sketching rapidly and accurately with a crayon, Dickinson also made rough drawings of the anatomy of his patients in order to have on file indicators of problems they might face. The first set of sketches were drawn while the patient was on the examining table and included drawings of their uterus, cervix, and vulva. The patient's first visit was scheduled to last an hour so that he could review the patient's history, do the physical examination, make his sketches (a minimum of five), and talk with his patient about what to expect. Sixty-two sketches were the most he made on a single patient, but this was because of the unusualness of the case. He averaged about 20 sketches per patient drawn over the years he treated them. He took his first sex history as such in 1890. Over the course of his practice, Dickinson gathered case histories on 5,200 women (4000 married and 1200 unmarried), of which only 46 date before 1900.

On this MUM Web site see Dr. Dickinson's influential report, Tampons as Menstrual Guards (1945), that helped tampons gain a, um, foothold in women's affections; his Standing Female Pelvic Organs for the Tampax Educational Department; and his sculpture of the female pelvis for Tampax Incorporated,
used on an educational chart.

See the work of another physician-artist of the time, Frank Netter.

The excerpt here is from chapter 3, Technique of Control of Conception.


Below: P. 102 (previous page; see contents of the excerpts at the bottom of this
and every page
)
Intrauterine stems & rings

NEXT | Technique of Control of Conception: General measures - Abstinence - Lactation - Safe period [in the menstrual cycle] -
[chart: Conception from isolated coitus] - Methods employed by the husband: Withdrawal - Coitus reservatus - Coitus saxonus -
Suburethral opening - Australian "Mika" operation - The Condom - [Illustration: The Condom] - Rubber versus Skin - Patched Skin Condoms -
Rubber Condoms - Sizes - Tests - Shape - Practical Considerations - Lubrication - Methods employed by the wife: The Douche -
[Figs. 16 & 17: Vaginal douche, fountain syringe] - [Figs. 18 & 19: Vaginal douche, whirling spray] - Pressure douche - Medication -
Lathering - Spermicides - Jellies - [Figs. 20 & 21: Jelly & Tablet] - Suppositories - Foam tablets - Powders - Summary on Chemicals -
Vaginal Barriers: Tampons, Sponges and Pessaries - [Fig. 22: Sponge as Vaginal Diaphragm] - Russian Hard Rubber Ball -
Pessaries - [List of Figs. 23-46: Fitting of Pessaries: Illustrations start here] - Cervix Occlusive Pessaries - Vaginal Diaphragms -
Fitting the Pessary - Types of Diaphragm Pessary - Degree of Safety - [Table: Comparative Safety of Usual Methods of Conception Control] -
Omissions - Intrauterine stems & rings - [illustrations of stems & accidents & cavities] - Gräfenberg of G-spot fame -
Shape of uterine cavity - Rhythmic contraction of the uterus - Forms of stems causing trouble - Silkworm & silver rings -
Conclusions on intrauterine devices - Heat to the testicle - X-rays - Reversible operations (includes vasectomies) - Hormones -
Spermatoxins - FEDERAL LAWS on prevention of conception - State-by-state laws - Eugenical sterilizations laws in United States -
Supreme Court decision in Virginia sterilization case, Buck vs Bell (1927), quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes -
Legal status of contraception & sterilization - Practical application to physicians - Eugenical sterilization laws

Pro-Fo Lactic - Doozee douche for soda pop bottles - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) -
Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol ad, 1938 -
Midol booklet (selections), 1959 (U.S.A.) - Enovid (U.S.A.) birth-control pill package & directions (1964)
with booklet Planning Your Family (also 1964) addressed to married women, not single.
Prophylactic and Contraceptive Products that May be Sold in Oregon by Legally Licensed Outlets during the Year 1957
(brochure)