American Girl is the name given to a series of historical and contemporary dolls made by American Girl, Inc., formerly the Pleasant Company. Some dolls in the series represent fictional characters from American history. Other dolls are based on more contemporary figures. The characters appear in books that tell their stories. The 18-inch (46-centimeter) dolls have a vinyl head, arms, and legs, and a soft cloth body.
The first three American Girl dolls made were Kirsten, a Swedish-born pioneer girl living in 1854; Samantha, a wealthy girl from New York in 1904; and Molly, a girl living in Illinois during World War II (1939-1945). The dolls became so popular that more characters were added, including characters of different races and religions.
In addition to books, historically accurate accessories are designed for each historical character. Clothing, furniture, school supplies, and play food items help to recreate the characters’ times. Over the years, the Pleasant Company added American Girl cookbooks, craft books, American Girl magazine, and child-sized outfits that match the dolls’ clothing. The company also released movies for television, in theaters, and on DVD featuring characters based upon the historical dolls.
Pleasant Rowland started the Pleasant Company in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1986. She first sold American Girl dolls only through a mail-order catalog. In 1998, the Pleasant Company built its first store, called American Girl Place, in Chicago. Just before the store opened, Rowland sold Pleasant Company to Mattel, Inc. Mattel made American Girl dolls available at American Girl stores across the United States. In 2004, Pleasant Company was renamed American Girl, Inc., but remained a division of Mattel. In 2017, in a move to make its American Girl brand more diverse, the company added a boy doll to its line of female dolls. The male doll, named Logan Everett, is part of a new series of contemporary characters.
See also Doll .
