The New-York Historical Society’s exhibition, Women March, commemorates the centennial of the 19th Amendment as it explores the efforts of a wide range of women’s collective efforts to expand American democracy in the centuries before and after the suffrage victory. While the Museum is temporarily closed, we are committed to sharing its ideas from afar. In…

On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its final ruling in Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision with far-reaching consequences that still reverberate today. To mark the occasion, we wanted to take a look at some of the documents and objects from the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library that chart the history of reproductive…

“Female Regulating” “Relief at Last” “For All Female Complaints” “The Only Reliable Female Pill” “Female Renovating Pills” These cryptic phrases adorn small booklets, packages, and advertisements in an archival folder labeled “Female Remedies—Miscellaneous” in the New-York Historical Society’s library. They are part of a larger collection of material surrounding patent medicines: unregulated liquids, powders, oils,…