Pleasant Rowland began Pleasant Company, whose flagship line, The American Girls Collection, began in 1986 and initially included three dolls and accompanying books whose goal was to give girls both a means of teaching American history from the more accessible perspective of a girl of their own age, and a doll that could be perceived by the girl as a friend, rather than as a baby doll to be nurtured, or a teen or adult fashion doll to look up toward and/or to emulate.

I currently have, and collect for, three of these characters: Kaya'aton'my, who represents the Nimiipuu tribe post-white contact, but pre-permanent settlement of the area by whites, Josefina Montoya, who represents upper class life in New Mexico under Mexican Rule prior to ownership by the United states, and Addy Walker, who represents the life of a former slave and the discrimination she faces in her new life in Philadelphia during and immediately after the Civil War.

I do have other dolls which were released as historical characters, with books and backstories, but I've used them to create original characters of my own, most of which are modern. These three dolls of mine, and their collections, however, stay as true to their book characterisations and as historically accurate as my skills and knowledge can manage.

I am not what is considered a completist within collecting - that is someone who considers it necessary to acquire every thing made by American Girl for the collections. Instead I read the books, and determine from them what is necessary for my own personal collection, regardless of if American Girl has produced that item, or not, and I do not feel compelled to purchase things from their collections which do not appeal to me.. I enjoy finding elsewhere, repurposing other things to work for my doll's scale, and also crafting things myself.