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This special edition doll was created in celebration of Camp Tanamakoon's centennial year. For 100 years Camp Tanamakoon in Ontario's beautiful Algonquin Park has provided leadership opportunities, environmental education, and traditional camp experiences to generations of girls. The fun and friendship has created life-long memories of time well-spent. From vintage photos and written memories, Maplelea create a camp uniform exactly like the first campers would have worn a hundred years ago, right down to the garters under the bloomers that held up those over-the-knee-socks!

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i think doll lines have a bad habit of giving up and quitting when they have so much room to improve and grow.

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Tombstone, Arizona Territory, 1884

Pauline's mother is taking her to have her portrait taken. She's dressed in her best clothes for the occasion!

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Felicity’s Birthday Cake (adapted from Colonial Williamsburg’s Rich Cake recipe)

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups flour

12 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 lb. butter (4 sticks)

½ cup candied orange peel

1 teaspoon lemon extract

½ cup golden raisins

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Evenly grease a 10-inch Bundt pan and set aside.

Beat the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about one minute. Add the sugar and beat at high speed until light and fluffy. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. At a medium-high speed, add the eggs in gradually until the eggs are thoroughly combined with the butter and sugar. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Sift the flour in a separate bowl, then add the spices. Set the mixer at a low speed, and add the spice mixture gradually until thoroughly combined with the butter, sugar and eggs. Continue to mix at low speed while adding the candied peel and raisins until thoroughly mixed into the batter. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides.

Pour the batter into the Bundt pan, spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Place pan on middle rack in oven. Bake at 350° until a toothpick comes out clean, about 50 minutes to one hour. Allow cake to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 30 minutes.

Invert the cake onto a large plate and then invert again back onto a cooling rack. Allow cake to cool completely before slicing.

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idk if anyone else remembers but back when i was a kid american girl would send out catalogues so you could buy clothes and accessories and such for your doll but they also had a section where you could buy matching outfits. and the outfits were always phenomenal. i’m really craving some of the ease of buying a cute premade outfit from a doll catalogue

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Kaya is outside enjoying the lovely autumn colors on the trees! Tatlo follows along, just happy to be with Kaya.

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hello American Girl and/or Mormon history aficionados!! After some of the questions you guys have been sending me/my own personal ruminations, I want to share some of the ideas I have for if AG was going to create a historical Mormon character. (Though, for reasons outlined when I responded to the previous ask about a hypothetical Mormon pioneer doll, I highly doubt AG would go that route and I think there are plenty of valid reasons why they possibly shouldn't.)

That being said, if they did, here are some ideas I think would be interesting or cool. First of all, time frame. I answered the previous anon's question with the assumption that "Mormon pioneer" meant an early Utah settler with a storyline set in the late 1840s or early 1850s. I would actually prefer a slightly later era, and I think that might avoid some of the concerns about two much overlap with Kirsten's era. It also would help fill the forty-year gap between Addy and Samantha's storylines. In terms of narrative gaps, I also think there's a bit of a gap with not having a character whose story is set "out west" in the 19th century. (Kirsten's storyline addresses some issues of westward expansion, but she's really Midwestern, and while Josefina is in a modern-day Southwestern state, in her era that region is not under US political control, which makes for a slightly different narrative.)

Part of the reason why I think not having anything between 1864 and 1904 is such a misstep is that there was so much rapid technological development, population growth, and political/social change during those decades and I feel like we get to see the very beginning of a process with Addy and then we pick up with Samantha when so much change has already happened. I'd like to see a bit of a mid-point, and I think a Western state would be a really interesting place to do that. (Side note: if I wasn't a Mormon history nerd, and if AG didn't already have TWO different 20th century historical characters who live in California, I would say California would be the best setting for an "Old West" character. Utah has a really fascinating history in its own right but is in many ways not particularly representative of the West as a region because the population that settled it was so unique.)

One time period that would be interesting for a Mormon Historical Doll would be the late 1860s. This is still pretty close to Addy's time, but the character would be very regionally and demographically different, of course. A really big element of the technological development in the late 19th century was the expansion of railroad networks, including the Transcontinental Railroad, which was completed in Utah in 1869. It might be really cool to do something with this! Utah Mormons approached the new railroad with both excitement about economic opportunity and some sense of threat to their way of life, which had been shaped by previous geographic isolation from mainstream (and non-Mormon) America. How would a child approach this?

I also think a doll set in the 1880s would be really interesting. This was a really fraught time in Utah history, and the most intense period of anti-polygamy legislation and prosecutions (you'll sometimes hear people call this the Mormon Underground era because so many prominent men went "on the underground" to avoid arrest). In terms of technological and social changes, the advent of the railroad did change Utah society a lot, in part because it enabled a lot more non-Mormons to move to Utah. While still a majority especially outside of Salt Lake City, Mormons were no longer an overwhelming majority and also no longer were able to completely control state politics (partially because the new residents were voting as well, but also because there was a long-term effort by the federal government to install appointed officials to try and break the political power of the church.) So you are looking at a more religiously diverse Utah, a shifting balance of power, and a lot of federal policies viewed by Mormons as oppressive, and corresponding political backlash.

(Note: I would find an 1880s era Mormon doll absolutely fascinating, but it would be likely way more controversial even than the earlier pioneer doll would be, because modern LDS people would be way less enthusiastic about it. The pioneer doll would be from a period of their history that is really culturally glorified whereas a doll from the 1880s would be addressing a period of their history that most everyday non-historian LDS folks often find deeply uncomfortable. The 1860s doll might sort of split the difference, because conflict with the federal government over polygamy would be a more central issue than for an earlier doll but less than for an 1880s doll).

I'm just going to post this for now, but I'll reblog with some further ideas about possible storyline/theme/character choices they could make. I'm trying to clean my apartment lol.

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The Dusty Mountain Dollies had their last Pickin' in the Park summer concert on Labor Day weekend. Longtime friends might remember that this is now a yearly tradition ever since their first concert in the park back in 2021!

And they gave everyone a free commemorative postcard!

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So my sister wants to start sewing more, because

a. She’s 5′ 11″ and can never find pants long enough for her legs or shirts long enough for her arms.

b. She hates synthetic fibers as much as I do and it’s difficult to find natural fiber clothes that aren’t made of cotton

c. She’s a biologist and would physically fistfight microplastics if given half a chance

So her gift from mom and dad for her birthday was a sewing machine. Not a super expensive one but a good solid serviceable one.

And recently she asked “So where do I GET wool or linen and thread that isn’t polyester” and mom was like ‘go ask your sister’

And I, of course, crashed into the group text like “GET A PEN I HAVE WEBSITES FOR U” and honestly I’m thrilled about this

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Another experiment: rerooting a classic American Girl mini doll. Should have repainted her scalp before, but what’s done is done and the results aren’t too bad 😊

Now to repaint her eyes and work on little Addy!

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A lonely man was spotted playing with toys in his room. By himself. With toys.

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Mirna 💕

I love this Our Generation face mold so much! The dimples are just the sweetest! :)

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American girl/pleasant company was on to something with these books promoting dolls/doll outfits/accessories man I just finished reading all of felicitys books and now I want literally everything from her collection/hj

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YES!!! I do! I love her in Kavi's Bollywood set! It's one I've also considering getting and Priya looks beautiful in it!

Here's my 80!

I haven't settled on a name I love yet for her but I think her family is from Kolkata and she’ll hop between being a contemporary and historical doll.

She’s in the Maplelea Nouveau Nautique outfit - her first outfit change - while I work out what stuff is her vibe. That’s actually meant to be a neck scarf that I’m using in her hair, I like the casual look it gives like that.

The lighting in my apartment is pretty terrible and I’m still learning to photograph dolls but no regrets, I’m so happy with her!

Much to love to Priya from another 80!

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What your favorite American Girl Doll line says about you! :)

Historical Characters: autism

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Claudie came along with me to see Some Like it Hot!