American Girls Dolls
American Girl Dolls were first producd by the Pleasant Company in 1986 and initially only available only through mail-order catalogs. The compnay was founded by Pleasant T. Rowland, who was a former educator and publisher of educational materials. The Pleasant Company produced and marketed three 18-inch dolls, each of which was from a different period in American History.
The dolls introduced a combination of quality historical stories and high end quality dolls initially produced by Gotz dolls in Germany and later by Mattel.
The first three dolls were Samantha Parkington 1904, Kirsten Larson 1854 and Molly McIntire from 1944. Along with the dolls the Pleasant Company produced a number of historically accurate outfits and accessory sets for each doll.
Five more historical dolls and their stories were added to the collection. In 1997, an online store (AmericanGirl.com) was launched. In 1998 Mattel, Inc. purchased the Pleasant Company.
The Americal Girl Dolls are now available online as well as a series of Stores which incorporate a Cafe, Dolls, Accessories, Books and Children's clothes. The stores are in Alanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minnieapolis and New York.
The dolls, clothing and accessories are retired over time increasing their collectabiltiy.
The dolls are divided up into different categories: Historical Dolls, Dolls of the Year, American Girls of Today, Just like you American Girl and My American Girl.
Retired Historical American Girls
Current Historical Dolls
Dolls of the Year
The American Dolls of the Year started in 2001 with Lindsey Bergman. The girls wear modern outfits and come with a book. Also available for the dolls are a range of accessories a pet and outfits dependant upon the characters background and story. These are available for a one year period and are then retired. Collectors wishing to collect these dolls often search ebay for the retired dolls.
The 2009 Chrissa Maxwell doll became a movie available now on DVD, she also was the only Doll of the Year up to this point that came with friends. During the year of 2009 you could also purchase Chrissa's friends Sonali Matthews and Gwen Thompson.
American Girls of Today Dolls
In 1995 the Pleasant Company introduced a line of 18" dolls with modern outfits and accessories. A selection of over 20 dolls featured various combinations of skin tones, facial features, and hair and eye colors.
American Girl Today
American Girls of Today Dolls in 1998 had a name change to "American Girl Today"
American Girls Just Like You® Dolls
In 2009 the American Girl today collection was called American Girls Just Like You® Dolls. Each Just Like You doll wore a contemporary outfit and came with a Fun with Your Doll book.
My American Girls
2010 saw a new twist to the Girls of Today / Just Like You® Dolls with the introduction of My American Girl™. These dolls were promoted as "the friend you create and celbrate online. The idea was that a child can pick the hair colour, style, eye colour and skin colour to match themselves or what they would like. Dolls came with a variety of hair lengths and with each purchase of a new My American Girl™ doll the owner received full access to innerstarU.com also for online American Girl game play.
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