American Girl - Definition and Overview

The American Girls Collection is a brand of dolls and other items of girls' interest. The American Girl line includes eight cloth dolls, each themed on a character representing a particular period and region of U.S. history and dressed in clothing representative of the time, place and social background of the character.

A list of the dolls and their personas include:

• Kaya

Kaya is a girl of the Nez Perce people (see also Native American);

• Felicity

Felicity lives in colonial Williamsburg around the late 1700s;

• Josefina

Josefina lives in a rancho in New Mexico in the 1890s;

• Kirsten

Kirsten, an immigrant, lives in a settler's cabin on the Minnesota prairie;

• Addy

Addy is a member of a family of escaped slaves, who live in Philadelphia during the U.S. Civil War;

• Samantha

Samantha lives in turn-of-the-century New England;

• Kit

Kit is a girl growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio during the Great Depression;

• Molly

Molly is growing up during World War II.

Although the dolls are fairly expensive, their detailed personas and period costumes have made them popular among young girls and their mothers.