MountainAGStudios

Does anyone know what outfits this parts are from? I just got them for free for the person who gave me Joesfina and can’t identify them

The blue dress with the white fichu is Caroline’s birthday dress. The pajamas in the middle are a Truly Me outfit called the Butterfly Garden PJ’s. The purple dress with purple trim is Ruthie’s meet dress. The red ribbons look like Josefina’s birthday hair ribbons, and the blue slippers go with her birthday outfit. The pink ribbon looks like the one that comes with Addy’s summer set. 

im actually really kind of depressed that AG seems to be slowly taking away all the 18th-19th century historicals since that’s what drew me into american girl in the first place. it felt the heart of the company, the mission was about making history accessible to girls, showing them that there was a place for them too in these tumultuous circumstances, and how they prevail through kindness, community, and love. not to say that the modern dolls don’t have those themes as well, but i feel like the historical line was special because girls usually aren’t the focus in history education – you have to go well out of your way to dig up stuff on even super famous historical figures, like joan of arc and annie oakley.  you had to go up to your teacher and beg to do a report on some fascinating woman in history, like you, a child, had to convince an adult steeped in our culture that the pursuit had merit. 

It sort of bugs me too. Not to sound like “they changed it, now it sucks!/any change is automatically bad,” but I really dislike the shift away from historicals. I get it, the modern line sells. But as a kid I’m not sure I would have been as interested if that was what was being pushed then, I was all about the historical characters. That’s how I got into it! I know you can make your own character out of one/the girl of the year is a character, but I wanted a Molly doll because she was Molly, the girl from the books I loved. That dress is pretty, but THIS dress is Kirsten’s birthday outfit! I wanted a lot from the modern line, but when it came down to it, I always asked for the historical stuff. That’s nothing against the AG of Today line, but the historical line was THE hook! (Okay, Coconut. I did have Coconut and some of her accessories!) You’re so right, it was always hard to find any focus in history on women. It was always “this historical event and the guy involved.” I was always more interested in actual people’s actual lives. Was American Girl and Dear America responsible for that or did they fill a void I wanted? I think it’s a chicken/egg thing. I felt seen. Maybe school wasn’t teaching me about the average person’s life outside of politics and war during the colonial era or the Civil War, but someone else was.

I haven’t seen a catalog in ages and most of the AG news I get is from the chatter here (I still love the books and dolls I have just haven’t actively looked for new stuff from them in a long time) but I really have to second all of this.  I do remember first hearing about historical girls getting archived, especially Felicity and it was so disappointing and disheartening to see it’s continuing.  I’ve often said Felicity is the reason I became interested in history and, a bit like the above poster, I don’t know if these books created that love or just awakened it but the American Revolution will always have a special place in my heart because of Pleasant Roland, Valerie Tripp, and Felicity.  I wrote my thesis on the experience of children/young people during the Revolutionary period with my mini-Felicity doll sitting right there on my computer desk the whole time.