It’s been 13 years since fans of American Girl could take home Samantha Parkington, a young orphan with Kate Middleton–esque hair who lived in early 1900s upstate New York with her wealthy grandma. First introduced as one of three original historical characters in 1986 by The Pleasant Company, the popular doll was actually retired in 2008, followed by fellow O.G. dolls Kirsten Larson in 2009 and Molly McIntire in 2010. But now, to celebrate the iconic brand’s 35th anniversary, the company is—get ready for it—bringing back Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly—along with Felicity, Josefina, and Addy. The dolls are returning for a limited time, in their original packaging, original clothes, and authentic accessories. Yes, go ahead and freak out.
“I actually have the new Samantha here, and she’s gorgeous!” says a very excited Jamie Cygielman—the general manager of American Girl—when I log on to our Zoom. “Anyone who grew up with the brand is going to flip out over it, plus we reprinted the first books with the vintage cover art, so it’s really fun.”
To be honest, flipping out is an understatement. My parents gifted me Kirsten in 1991, and my sister received Samantha a few months earlier for Chanukah. We both still have them, but this news feels like the equivalent of a nostalgic hug, especially after a very turbulent year.
In fact, Cygielman says that with more people being at home over the last year and going through their closets, they noticed admissions to the American Girl Doll Hospital actually went up. “I think people started to take them out and play with them again, and thought, ‘Ah, she needs to get a little smudge off her face or fix her hair a little bit,’ so we saw a pretty big increase in the back half of last year and through this year as well.”
Although the original six dolls have been in and out of circulation—mainly in different iterations over the years—Cygielman says the goal was to bring them back as you remember them from the ’80s and ’90s. “The idea was that [they] had been sort of vaulted and now we’re bringing them back out.”
As part of the 35th birthday, the brand has also released a new book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned From American Girl, which Cygielman says is a “sort of tongue-in-cheek” 32-page nostalgic look back, geared towards adults. Then on May 8, fans are invited to join American Girl and cupcake shop Magnolia Bakery for a virtual 35th Birthday Bash, along with other surprises throughout the year.
Frosting and parties aside, the real celebration is what these dolls and their stories represent for millions of girls all over the world. “The stories act as a mirror to a child so that they can see themselves,” Cygielman tells Glamour. “Sometimes it’s a window into another world that they may not have been as familiar with but that they can learn from. We’ve always wanted to tell diverse stories about the American experience, but also to give girls great role models, which builds strong character.”
Cygielman notes that while the way a girl dresses or the toys that she plays with has changed over time, “the core tenets of girlhood and those rites of passage have not changed—such as her friends, her family, her community, doing the right thing, being a better person, and inspiring to do great things. So it seemed really culturally relevant right now to tell those stories again to a new audience.”
As part of the 35th celebration, American Girl is partnering with Save the Children’s U.S. Literacy program this summer with a gift of more than $100,000 in American Girl books. “We’ve long-championed the belief that strong readers become strong leaders,” the brand says.
And to continue to get fans more excited, the brand is also releasing new images of the original dolls, which you can see below, along with some of The Pleasant Company’s vintage photos released in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
The six original dolls are available on American Girl’s website and will retail for $150 each.
Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. To see her vintage Kirsten doll, you can check out her Instagram here.