The Evolution of American Girl

Hello everyone! Bella here. Today I have a different kind of post. The evolution of American Girl. American Girl started in the fall of 1986. It was started by Pleasant Rowland and was named Pleasant Company.(Sometimes I'm going to abbreviate it PC.) The first three dolls were Molly McIntire, Samantha Parkington, and Kirsten Larson. (Notice how all of them (well, not Samantha anymore, but she changed.) are retired?) I thought that it was interesting that the original dolls are retired. Felicity Merriman and Addy Walker were added later. The dolls had white bodies and soft eyelashes.
                                                      The Torso

(I'm not sure who's picture this is. If it is your, please let me know and I will take it down.)

Here is a picture of a first edition Molly doll. She has the white body. (She is also signed by Pleasant Rowland which makes her even more a collectible.)

Some dolls have artist marks. (I'll talk about that in a later post.)

Dolls made from 1986 to somewhere in 1991 had white bodies. They also didn't have any tags. Another thing about them was they were made in Germany, not China. Tan bodies where introduced when Felicity came out in 1991. They also started having tags on the body in 1998. Somewhere in the 90s' they were made in China. 

The Head

The eyelashes. 

(Click *Here* for a great comparison between Pleasant Company dolls and American Girl) 

These are the eyelashes of a PC doll.

(These are not my pictures. Full credit to *this* blog. Click on the link above the picture for the post they came from)

These are the eyelashes of an AG doll. You can't tell from the pictures, but the PC eyelashes are nice and soft, while the AG one's are just hard.

The vinyl of PC dolls are squishier, Their faces seem to be more chubby also. 

Now that we established the difference, I will go on to the history.

In 1998 Mattel bought Pleasant Company from Pleasant Rowland. After Mattel bought the company the name was changed to American Girl. The quality of their products slowly went down. Pleasant Rowland retired from the board in 2000.

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I decided at the last minute that I should say that if you have a doll, like I have Katrina, and her neck says Pleasant Company, it is not Pleasant Company. She has a tag on her body that says American Girl made in China 2008. Also, if you have a Kaya doll that says Pleasant Company 2002, it is not Pleasant Company. Dolls from 1986-1997 are genuine PC dolls.

There you have it! The evolution of American Girl! Thank you so much for reading!

Do you have any genuine Pleasant Company dolls?

<3Bella