Percy Skuy Contraception Collection
The Percy Skuy collection of contraceptives is the largest and most comprehensive collection of contraceptive devices, housed in the Dittrick Museum of Medical History at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.[1] Originally conceived of by Skuy in 1966 while working for the Canadian pharmaceutical company: ORTHO.[2] It was donated to the Dittrick in 2004 with 600 original artifacts,[3] since then it has grown to over 1100 artifacts with the help of former curator James Edmonson.[4]
History of Collection
Originally conceived by Skuy in the '60s, the collection started as a traveling case Skuy would bring along while working for the Marketing Department of Ortho Pharmaceutical.[5] Starting first as a number of items to highlight a talk - over the next 40 years it would grow under Skuy to over 500 artifacts, spanning 3000 years of human history.[6][7]
Once the collection outgrew Skuy's ability to personally handle, it was moved to the ORTHO companies main building and simply entitled "The Ortho Museum on the History of Contraception" [2] This is where it would stay until 2004. [3]
After retiring from the Jenssen-ORTHO presidency in 1995, Skuy remained the acting curator of the museum until 2002, at which point he decided it was time for the collection to be housed in a different location. [5] When searching for a permanent home for his collection, Skuy met with James Edmonson and the Dittrick Museum of Medical History, where he was presented with an informative document entitled, "A Collection as Catalyst: Prospectus for the Percy Skuy Collection of Contraceptive Devices at the Dittrick Medical History Center."[8] Skuy was reportedly impressed with the museums "business plan" and would entrust his collection with the Dittrick in November of 2004 with a quiet inauguration the following March.[5][9] However the collection wouldn't become a permanent gallery until 2009. [10]
Since moving to the Dittrick the collection has been a part of many exhibits and gone by many names; such as, "Virtue, Vice, and Contraband: A History of Contraception in America" , "The Skuy Gallery", and “Percy Skuy Collection on Contraception Through the Ages”. [11][4]
Nowadays the Skuy Gallery rests in it's own dedicated room, although with the fragility of most of the artifacts the majority of them are stored in the museums archives - although it still houses a substantial exhibit specifically focusing on contraception in the United States. The exhibit has remained largely unchanged since it's establishment as a permanent gallery in 2009.[12]
- ↑ Bataineh, Madiha. "The Percy Skuy Collection on the History of Contraception in East Cleveland". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2026-11-09.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Stieb, Ernst W. (1989). "The Ortho Museum on the History of Contraception". Pharmacy in History. American Institute of the History of Pharmacy. 31 (4): 182–183. ISSN 0031-7047.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Steere-Williams, Jacob; Delay, Cara (2016). "Museum Review: Dittrick Medical History Center". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 90 (4): 706–707. doi:10.1353/bhm.2016.0106. ISSN 1086-3176.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Contraception Collection". Dittrick Medical History Center. Retrieved 2026-10-16.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Skuy, Percy (November 2014). "What it took to donate a unique collection from a Canadian source – to an American university" (PDF). SOGC Newsletter. Retrieved 10/15/2026. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help); Check date values in:|access-date=(help) - ↑ "Muvs - Percy Skuy (1932-2021)". muvs.org. Retrieved 2026-11-09.
- ↑ Tribune, Chicago (2005-02-09). "Contraception through the ages". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2026-11-09.
- ↑ "In Memoriam: Percy Skuy". Dittrick Medical History Center. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2026-10-16.
- ↑ Cooper, Cynthia L. (2005-05-19). "Museum Displays Contraceptives from Past Eras". Women's eNews. Retrieved 2026-11-09.
- ↑ "VIRTUE, VICE, AND CONTRABAND: THE HISTORY OF CONTRACEPTION IN AMERICA – Public Affairs Discussion Group". 2024-06-06. Retrieved 2026-10-16.
- ↑ Berger, Molly W. (2010). "Review of "Virtue, Vice, and Contraband: A History of Contraception in America". http://www.case.edu/affil/skuyhistcontraception/index.html". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 84 (2): 281–282. ISSN 0007-5140. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Contraception in America 1950 - Present day". Dittrick Medical History Center. Retrieved 2026-11-06.
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