American Girl (formerly Pleasant Company) is a company currently owned by Mattel that makes 18" dolls for girls ages eight and up. The most well known line is the American Girl Collection, which includes eight dolls from America's history and two that are "best friend" dolls (with a third planned for Fall 2006). There are also a few other popular lines, most notably the Just Like You and Bitty Baby lines. American Girl was started in 1985 by Pleasant T. Rowland out of her frustration of not being able to find dolls that were high-quality, wholesome and educational.

History

In 1984, Pleasant T. Rowland visited Williamsburg, Virginia, and decided to come up with a way to make history interactive for children. That Christmas she was shopping for presents for her nieces and was dismayed that dolls either portrayed adults, or encouraged girls to act like mothers, but none focused on girlhood itself. She decided to create dolls that not only taught history interactively, but kept girls from growing up too fast. When she announced her target age would be 8-12 years old, she was mocked by the toy market, where it was a commonly held belief that most girls stopped playing with dolls after they were about 10 years old. The success of Pleasant Company encouraged other manufacturers to expand into the 10-12 market for dolls.

The company has earned many awards, most notably the Oppenheimer Toy Award (eight times).

Rowland decided to coordinate a line of dolls and corresponding books that portrayed 9-year-old girls from the history of the United States of America. While looking in the basement of a shop in Chicago she found an 18-inch doll that was perfect for her idea. The doll maker was Göetz in Germany. Thus older dolls have tags that say "Made in West Germany." In the 1990s production was moved to Hungary for a year and then to China.

In 1986 the first catalogs were sent out. They contained the first three dolls in the line: Kirsten Larson, Samantha Parkington, and Molly McIntire. These catalogs featured only the first three stories of each character's eventual six-book series, as well as their pajamas, beds and trunks.

During the years 1986-1998, the company expanded, adding three more historical characters (Felicity Merriman, Addy Walker, and Josefina Montoya) as well as the new line of 'American Girls of Today' and the 'Bitty Baby' set.

In 1998 Mattel acquired Pleasant Company. This raised concerns that the company would become "Barbie-fied." Two years later, Rowland would leave the company. A this time, the name of the company changed from 'Pleasant Company' to 'American Girl.'

Since then, there have been some dramatic changes to the company. The layout of the catalogs changed, shifting to a greater emphasis on using the commercial web site for sales. Items from the historical collections began to be retired.

In 2000 Kit Kittredge was added to the historical line. Evidence of the company's new management became apparent, as the layout of the catalogs no longer featured individual doll poses and parchment background schemes. In addition, new products were added more frequently, particularly in the 'American Girl of Today' lines. The company began a line of Limited Edition modern dolls, which are produced for only one year. A seventh historical doll, Kaya, was added in 2001.

In 2003 American Girl teamed up with Red Om films and Julia Roberts to create the first American Girl movie. The first "Best Friends" doll, Nellie O'Malley, was added to the historical collection as a movie tie-in. This new product line would continue in 2005 with a redesigned Felicity collection, second "Best Friend" doll (Elizabeth Cole) and movie, "Felicity: An American Girl Adventure."

In 2005, the "American Girl Today" line was renamed the "Just Like You" series.

2006 is the 20th anniversary of American Girl; so far this has been reflected on the site. One of the stories is from the woman who then modeled Kirsten for the company.

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