Historical Characters
The Historical Characters line was the line that started it all. It originally introduced three characters, Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly in 1986. They were sold as Pleasant Company. But over the years, it continued to release new dolls, alongside books, clothing, accessories, and furniture.
The Historical Characters line—originally known as The American Girls Collection—was the line that started it all. Launched in 1986 by Pleasant Company, under the direction of Pleasant Rowland, it introduced its first three characters alongside books, clothing, accessories, and furniture. The line’s goal was two-fold: to provide children with a doll companion their own age, and to teach history through the perspective of a relatable character. Over the next several years, Pleasant Company expanded the lineup with new characters spanning different eras of U.S. history.
In 1998, Mattel purchased the company and rebranded it as American Girl, though the Historical Characters line continued to grow.
In 2004, American Girl began releasing movies of select favorite historical characters. For each movie, AG also released an accompanying Best Friend character, which were a doll, a book, a few outfits and accessories, and the occasional piece of furniture. Some of the Best Friend characters received many outfits and accessories, like Elizabeth Cole, while others, like Ivy Ling, received hardly anything. Upon the release of Julie Albright in 2007, they also released her best friend, Ivy Ling, at the same time, even though Julie never got a full-length feature film. In 2011, for the first time, they released two best friends who shared the spotlight: Cécile Rey and Marie-Grace Gardner. Neither of them got feature films either.
In 2014, American Girl rebranded the line as BeForever, intending to make the characters feel more timeless and relevant to new generations. This brought significant changes, including new meet outfits for several characters that were more colorful and less historically accurate. Most of the vast collections for the characters was retired, replaced by a new collectino that was less in quantity and accuracy. BeForever also included a reformatting of the Central Series books into combined volumes without illustrations. Any Best Friend characters were retired at this time, including Cécile and Marie-Grace, with the idea being that the child is now the character’s best friend. Having official Best Friends in the lineup messed with their new marketing ideas. Several new characters were introduced within the BeForever format as well.
In 2019, BeForever was officially retired as a brand, and the line reverted to the Historical Characters name. Since then, the line has continued to release new characters and has revisited older ones, rereleasing most previously-loved dolls in their classic looks. To this day, the Best Friend characters are still retired from American Girl.
| Name | Released | Story Year | Photo | Doll |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaya’aton’my | 2002 | 1764 | ||
| Felicity Merriman & Elizabeth Cole | 1991 & 2005 | 1774 | ||
| Caroline Abbott | 2012 | 1812 | ||
| Josefina Montoya | 1997 | 1824 | ||
| Cécile Rey & Marie-Grace Gardner | 2011 | 1853 | ||
| Kirsten Larson | 1986 | 1854 | ||
| Addy Walker | 1993 | 1864 | ||
| Samantha Parkington & Nellie O’Malley | 1986 & 2004 | 1904 | ||
| Rebecca Rubin | 2009 | 1914 | ||
| Claudie Wells | 2022 | 1922 | ||
| Kit Kittredge & Ruthie Smithens | 2000 & 2008 | 1934 | ||
| Nanea Mitchell | 2017 | 1941 | ||
| Molly McIntire & Emily Bennett | 1986 & 2006 | 1944 | ||
| Maryellen Larkin | 2015 | 1954 | ||
| Melody Ellison | 2016 | 1964 | ||
| Julie Albright & Ivy Ling | 2007 | 1974 | ||
| Courtney Moore | 2020 | 1986 | ||
| Isabel & Nicki Hoffman | 2023 | 1999 | ||
