Curie's visit was the culmination of a campaign by Meloney. In her Delineator interview, Curie had expressed a desire to obtain a gram of radium for work in her laboratory. Pure radium was still phenomenally expensive--a gram cost $100,000--and Curie's Radium Institute could no longer look to either the French government or wealthy French patrons for support. France remained in dire financial straits in the aftermath of World War One. Combining sisterly solidarity with public relations acumen, Meloney organized a donation campaign, collecting money from women across the United States for the "Marie Curie Radium Fund" to purchase a gram of radium from Standard Chemical. The company provided the radium with a display box and a special lead carrying case, seen in the picture to the right. The ten tubes of radium fit into the holes in the circular case.