How to Choose and Buy American Girl Dolls

American Girl Dolls were the brainchild of a doll maker named Pleasant T. Rowland. Rowland saw the need for dolls that just "let girls be girls" instead of dolls that influenced girls to role-play as mothers or other adults. The doll maker combined this idea with portions of our country's history, and then the entire concept of the doll was complete. If you or a special girl in your life collects these dolls, you'll need to learn how to choose and buy American Girl Dolls.

The American Girl Doll company was started in 1986. The first-edition dolls contained just three, eighteen-inch collectible dolls. Their names were Kirsten Larson from Sweden; Molly McIntire, who hailed from the Midwest during World War II; and Samantha Parkington who was from the early 20th century. Each doll was designed to be a nine-year-old girl who has its own detailed, personal background which was written in book form. By reading the books that came with their dolls, girls could find out about the story behind the girl as well as about a part of American history.

Each doll also wore an outfit and had accessories that represented her background and her place in time. Because collectors only had three American Girl Dolls to choose from at that time, and the dolls could only be ordered from mail-order catalogs, they could be rather scarce if you didn't know where to look.

The success of the original three dolls spurred Rowland and her American Girl Doll company to add five more dolls to their line-up in the next several years.

As of this writing, there have been many more American Girl Dolls produced, including Addy, Felicity, Josefina, Kailey, Kaya, Kit, Lindsey, Marisol and Nellie. Not all of the dolls are historical anymore, including the "American Girl of Today" Doll line. Instead of being designed by the company, these dolls are designed specially by their buyers. The buyers can choose the color of the hair, eyes and skin color. Then, the doll can be dressed in clothing and accessories that are also picked by the buyer.