The American Girl doll line was created back in 1986 Pleasant T. Rowland a former school teacher, news reporter and author. The dolls were originally designed to inspire an interest in history. The first few dolls had their own back stories (and accompanying books) that covered a wide swath of American history from the Revolution through the Civil War, the industrial revolution, the Great Depression and WWII.
And it worked! My middle daughter who has the 1940s era Molly American Doll and her friend Emily (an English American doll) was inspired to know about WWII history and speak to her grandmother about being young child during the blitz.
Despite the dolls high cost there is little to argue about there. I have always believed it paramount to understand the past to understand the present and to deal with the future.
Rowland's company was sold to Mattel, iconic toy conglomerate and maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels, in 1998. In 2008 the historical dolls have been discontinued or in American girl speak, "archived".
http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/04/american-girls-arent-radical-anymore/275199/
The dolls have become quite the cultural phenomena band despite the name are equally popular in Canada. All my daughters have an American Girl doll and several outfits and accessories. In the last year three stores have been opened north of the border.
My middle daughter is the biggest fan of the brand, for her birthday we ordered her the historical doll, Josefina, a latina girl living on a ranch in prior to the Mexican-American war. Unfortunately this doll is not made available in Canada and I had to order and ship to Cassidy who will forward on to the Great White North.
As part of my middle daughters birthday we drove into Toronto with her sisters and grandmother to visit her personal shrine to consumerism....the American Girl store in the Eaton's Centre.
We left after the morning rush hour and parked in the Eaton's Centre garage. There right in front of us as we emerged from the third floor parking deck was the American girl store. The look on her face was pure excitement!
She spent her birthday money on some outfits and accessories, my teenage daughter hit up Hollister, Pink and other clothing stores. I held the bags and tried not to get distracted by all the lovely things I could not afford right now.
Still it was a good day and one I hope she will remember happily for years to come.
Hugs,
April
Sorry no photos of my daughters because of obvious personal privacy and security reasons.
