Holly-Pax, Modern Insertion Type Sanitary Protection, Sample Package with Mailer: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Light and dark purple cardboard box with silhouette of a woman in heels and a skin-tight outfit. The box contains two individual cellophane-wrapped tampons. (Box appears to have originally contained three tampons.) Printed on top of box: "Holly-Pax / Guaranteed by / Good Housekeeping / As Advertised Therein;" and on the other side, "Accepted for advertising by the Journal of the American Medical Association." Printed on one edge of box: "Created In Hollywood / For the Fastidious Woman;" and the other: "Invisible - Secure / No Pins - No Pads - No Belts - No Odor." "Sample" is stamped in black ink on one end of the box. Included with the box is one (1) manila mailing envelope with adhesive paper address label (postmarked July 26, 1945, Spangsville, PA), and two (2) folded paper leaflets. One leaflet, "Directions for Using Holly-Pax Economy tampon," appears to have been included inside the box. The second leaflet, "Holly-Pax, Created for Glamorous Hollywood Stars and You," may have been loose in the mailing envelope with the small sample box of tampons. Made by Universal Cotton Products Corporation, Palms Station, Hollywood, Calif. Printed on one edge of box: "Created In Hollywood / For the Fastidious Woman;" and the other: "Invisible - Secure / No Pins - No Pads - No Belts - No Odor."

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1945
• Object Name: tampons
• Measurements: box: 1.5 cm x 6.5 cm x 4.8 cm; 19/32 in x 2 9/16 in x 1 7/8 in
• Measurements: mailer: 8.5 cm x 16.2 cm; 3 11/32 in x 6 3/8 in
• place made: United States: California, Los Angeles, Hollywood
• Subject: Menstruation
• Subject: Movie
• Subject: Women's Health
• ID Number: 2023.0066.01
• catalog number: 2023.0066.01
• accession number: 2023.0066
• Credit Line: Gift of Linda Lacy
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.