Time Travel: Helen Keller’s Doll
For those of you who don’t know who Helen Keller is, stay tuned. Helen Keller was one of the few girls who was deaf and blind, but learned how to become an amazing leader.
The photo below was just found, and is currently the first picture of Helen and her doll. By that time, age eight, Helen had collected many dolls, but never had a picture taken with them. The young lady next to her is Anne Sullivan, her teacher. It’s possible the doll was given to her by her teacher, but it could be another one of her dolls.
You’re probably wondering what this has to do with American Girl. Well, Helen loved her doll just like a normal girl loves her American girl doll. Doesn’t the doll in the picture look a bit like an American girl?
The doll has a wig with no center part. The more expensive dolls of bisque usually had wigs with a side part and usually had longer hair. So it is probably not bisque. The short hair-do may have been due to a re-styling with scissors by a young girl!
The doll seems to be well-loved so may have been a metal (tin) head Minerva (or Minerva type) doll. The Sears catalog of 1902 shows a similar wig on their “indestuctible” metal head doll – these dolls had been available as much as 15 years before the catalog. The hands on Helen’s doll also match the Sears illustration.
This doll is a close up of what Helen’s dolls could’ve looked like. It’s a minerva doll, which means it has a head made out of a sheet of metal! Not the kind of doll we would want to be hugging today!
I’d like to thank Millie’s Doll Closet for the wonderful picture of Helen and her doll!
Awesome New Header!
Let’s give a thank you to Harpersbizarre for our awesome picture for our awesome header! We appreciate it a lot!
Expensive, But Worth It?
Sylvie and I were in the American Girl Store in New York Friday, the 21st, and couldn’t help but notice all of the expensive prices on furniture and accessories. We were watching the hair stylists do the dolls’ hair, and saw that one braid was $20! Below is a chart of a lot of the hair styles you can give your doll, and their prices.
Do you think you could do a ponytail on your own for no money at all? At American Girl, to get a ponytail on your doll is $10!
This is the Doll Storage Cabinet. It costs $325! You could probably buy a trunk that size for only $30, or $40 at any other store. It doesn’t have a lot of space. It has only the space of the Dance Studio Trunk, which costs $75, which is still a lot, but less than this.
This is the dance studio trunk. It comes with three hangers, unlike the storage cabinet. With the storage cabinet, you have to pay $10 to get some hangers! My mom would never let me buy that, unless I use my own money! Do you think these items are worth it?
Photo courtesy of American Girl
Target vs. Mattel: Money Savers or Money Spenders
As you know from one of Sylvie’s posts, Target also makes a version of American Girl Dolls and furniture. Except, their prices range from $20 to $40. American Girl’s prices range from $60 to $325. Big diffrence, right? In another one of Sylvie’s posts, her mom brought her broken items to the American Girl Store and the person at the counter said they weren’t well made. Why do you think they sell these items for that much money, then? Are they a little too greedy?
This Target version of an ice skater, rather like Mia, is $39.99. But, maybe, it’s a lot cheaper than American Girl because the dolls aren’t as well made. What do you think?
This is Mia, an ice skater just like the doll above. She is sold for $90, as most of you know. Which one looks like it’s better made, and which one looks like it’s more fun to play with?
A little while ago, I got a salon chair from Target for my birthday. It was a lot cheaper than American Girl’s salon chair, and works just the same.
This is the salon chair from Target. It comes with hair supplies, like a blow dryer, spray bottle, curlers, scissors, a brush, and the chair for only $19.99. I think it’s a great deal.
This is the salon chair from American Girl. It costs $49 for just the chair. If you want hair styling tips and tricks, you have to pay an extra $7.95. I know Target has the better deal, but which one do you think is better to do your doll’s hair in?
As you can see, the doll from Target looks a little cheap on the outside, but it’s pretty much the same as American Girl. Target has a much better deal, and you can do the same things with each item.
Disappointing Christmas
Last Christmas, I was hoping for Nicki’s Ski Wear and Outfit. My parents told me that day that it was backordered till a day in January. But, in January, American Girl said that it was sold out, and they would not be selling them anymore. I was really disappointed because I knew that I would never be able to get the outfit, unless I bought it on ebay, and my family isn’t a big fan of ebay. In my opinion, American Girl was wrong to do that, and should’ve sold the outfit for a week or two in 2008.
By Julia Jarvis
Photo courtesy of Ebay
American Girl Frame Puzzles
Addy Frame Puzzles, Felicity Frame Puzzles
Julie Frame Puzzles, Samantha Frame Puzzles
Pictures from Millie’s Doll Closet
Here is a link to the frame puzzles.
American girl has made many new things this year…. another new thing that they now have is called frame puzzles.
Frame puzzles are puzzles that have three pictures of the same American girl and also have a backround to go with the puzzles.
So far American girl has made Addy, Felicity, Julie, and Samantha frame puzzles. Kirsten, Molly, Kit, Josefina, and Kaya frame puzzles are expected in June.
Why Nicki Doesn’t Have Pajamas: American Girl Writes to Us…
our Girl of the Year 2007, Nicki, specifically why she did not have
pajamas made specifically for her. Each of our Girl of the Year
collections has a limited number of outfits and accessories that are
chosen to represent particular aspects of her story or her life. They
are limited because the stories are limited in scope, also because of
the time frame of their availability.In Nicki’s case, her story obviously revolved around horseback riding,
her service dog, and the activities on the ranch and at school as well
as skiing. The decision was obviously made that to include those items
meant not including other items that were more integral to Nicki. And
as our Girl of the Year dolls are contemporary, several contemporary
sleepwear outfits would have been suitable for her.We hope that this helps explain what was the likely decision process for
Nicki’s collection. We hope that you enjoy getting to know Mia, our
Girl of the Year 2008!We wrote to American girl asking why Nicki didn’t have pajamas. As you can see they have responded. This letter told you why American girl didn’t make pajamas for Nicki.
If you want to ask American girl a few questions yourself look at this link.
American Girl Blog 