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BIRTH CONTROL BOX

AIRED: Season 3, Episode 6
THE DETECTIVES: Elyse Luray and Tukufu Zuberi
THE PLACE: Salem, California

THE CASE:

A Missouri resident recently inherited a number of items that had been in her family for over 130 years, including an unusual wooden box.

The label affixed to the inside of the box contained the date 1894 and language that suggested the box once contained a birth control device.

If this is indeed true, how would a family in remote, rural Missouri obtain such a device, during a time when such items were banned and considered lewd and immoral?

History Detectives picks up the case in Missouri, with a story that just may change the way we think about the history of family planning in America.

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