The Collection Memoirs ~ Part 1 (new series!)

Hey guys! In approximately the Triassic period (last September), I asked my readers what kind of content they enjoyed seeing from JD. One of y'all said you would like to see a post about how I got all of my dolls, and I genuinely loved that idea. So, shout out to you if you're here! 

I started typing that post up, got sidetracked, and then... well, we're in February now. So my wonderful new idea was to make this idea into a series. I wanted to be able to mention some lore along with doll origin stories, so this series is very inspired by the "Dolls in Depth" series that the AGTuber Blehzes Films does. Since I have so many dolls, this is going to be in several parts, focusing on a few different dolls at a time. I'll talk about how I got each doll, their general personality and aesthetic, and the background they have in my running storyline! 

For the first part, I'm focusing on my "Original Five." These are the first 5 dolls I had in my collection, and are most central to my childhood nostalgia. They were the dolls I owned when I first started Just Dolling in 2018.

So let's get started!

Marie Grace Gardner

Doll: Historical Character (Marie-Grace)

Added to my collection Christmas 2013

My history with American Girl goes waaaaaaay back to 2013. 

For a bit of context, if I remember the story right, my parents learned about American Girl while my dad was on a business trip to Chicago. He had a coworker who wanted to stop by the AG place for his daughter. My dad apparently called my mom to ask if he should get me (a little baby at the time) an AG doll, and my mom was like, "What?? No? They're HOW much?" And I do think they intended to shield me from AG after that. Much to my mom's dismay, our house somehow ended up on AG's holiday catalog mailing list in 2013, and I was instantly enamored! I was super into Disney princesses, so I'm pretty sure I thought all the dolls pre-1900s were princesses (and then I remember thinking Julie's outfit was so ugly. This was pre-Beforever 😭). It's also super important to note that I was under AG's recommended age and couldn't read yet, so I would flip through and ask my mom to tell me the dolls' names. When I landed on Marie-Grace's page, there was this instant connection. I remember thinking she was so, so pretty, and her blue eyes soooo striking. And then, I saw her in her fancy dress and knew I HAD to have her.

Of course, you can maybe deduce that eventually got her. I received her for Christmas 2013. I took her everywhere with me for a while, and she's still one of my all-time favorite AG characters. I relate so much to her book character, and I feel so lucky that she was my first doll. She's so coveted now, and I totally get it because she means so much to me.

Having been with me the longest, Marie Grace has cemented her role in my doll lore. She's always been a very responsible and organized character. I see her as being very kind and, despite being quiet, extremely extroverted, always having great advice to give to others. "Bubbly" is the word I'd use to describe her.

Aesthetically, Marie Grace is very feminine. I've based her style on soft silhouettes and pastels or cool toned colors. The vibe I go for with her is nostalgic and whimsical. I've always seen pink as her main color. She's a lover of all things vintage and, in part because of her historical time period as an AG character, has a strong association with Victorian era styles. 

A song that represents her is "Francesca" by Hozier because I can imagine her as a hopeless romantic, but also because the line "I'd tell em put me back in it" makes me feel nostalgic for my own life, and Marie Grace is the doll I have the most nostalgia with. 

And of course, since Marie Grace was my first doll, all of my lore has to go back to her. :) 

The very basic rundown of my doll lore is that my dolls represent modern-day teenage characters in a fictional town called Piney Grove. I personally think of Piney Grove as being in Virgina, but it's not necessarily tied to a specific state. 

Marie Grace's dad is Dr. Theodore Gardner, who is a history professor at the (unnamed, for now) university in Piney Grove's neighboring town, Maple Lane. They live in Piney Grove's oldest standing house, the historical Blue-Bricked Manor, which was built in the late 1700s. The Blue-Bricked Manor is physically represented by my dollhouse, which is painted blue. I used to have one of the KidKraft dollhouses, and it had a pink brick design, so as a kid, I called it the "Pink-Bricked Manor" because I wanted to make it seem more whimsical. 😅 The Blue-Bricked Manor is a main landmark in Piney Grove, which represents how central Marie Grace is to all of this! 

Kit Kittredge

Doll: Historical Character (Kit Kittredge) 

Added to my collection in summer 2016

As time went on, I didn't care for AG dolls anymore, and didn't play with Marie-Grace as much. That all changed when I started to read in elementary school. I started off as an average reader, but then I became one of those kids who read at a vicious rate at a way-high reading level. 😂 I don't remember why I started wanting Kit, but in 2016, I really, really did. At some point, my dad made a bet with me that if I read 20 chapter books, I could get an American Girl doll at the Kansas City AG store. I did what any normal kid would do and read 30. And, when I read Kit's book, a whole new world of history was opened up to me! Kit was the doll I identified with for most of my childhood. I am blonde and blue-eyed, and I proudly had a bob haircut for most of elementary school... so basically, I looked a lot like Kit! I wanted a typewriter so badly as a second-grader because of her. 😭 

This is the only photo in this post that isn't ancient lol

Most of Kit's personality never strayed too far from her AG character. She's a writer girlie, though she's more into fiction writing than journalism. She's an introvert as well. 

Kit's aesthetic is very autumnal. Her colors are warm oranges and reds. Things that represent her are scented candles, typewriters, bookstores, and rain. Her vibe is very cozy, which I just love.

Kit's song is Metaphor by The Crane Wives. :) 

As for lore, Kit is a little on the lighter side. She used to have a bigger role in my doll world, but I go through rotations where I change things sometimes. I made really big shifts in the lore when I hit high school, and Kit just hasn't ended up getting a ton of background. She's pretty reclusive, so she ends up lending herself to a minor character role, but that's not to say I'll never work on her character in the future. So yeah, basically she just loves to write and is the closest with Ruthie. :)

I just realized I've had her for (almost) 10 years and I don't know how to process this.

Julie Albright

Doll: Historical Character (Julie Albright)

Added to my collection Christmas 2016

The same year I got Kit,  randomly started wanting Julie. No explanation. I remember my parents teasing me by saying, "Do you know anyone who has three American Girl dolls??" Which... is ironic because I have a few more than 3 now. Nevertheless, I did get her for Christmas 2016! I was SO proud of myself for keeping her hair nice as a child, and honestly? I still am. 

I could *never* decide on Julie's style as a kid. Julie was basically having a constant identity crisis every time I played with my dolls. Then she had a strong boho vibe for a bit around COVID, and now I try to go with more of a skater girl vibe. It's a work in progress. 

Julie is best friends with Joss. I don't remember why I made them friends, but I remember writing and daydreaming up a lot of stuff with her friend group when I was in 6th grade. Her friend group used to include another doll named Dakota, who I don't have as a character anymore. (More on that in a future installment!) I was obsessed with Dakota for a while, so a lot of Julie's story went flat after I got rid of her. Oops. 

Julie is on the school basketball team and is the student body vice president at my dolls' school, Piney Grove School of the Arts. PGSA is based on the charter school I attended for 7th grade. That school was a mess, so while I was there, I came up with my dolls' school and made it into what I wished my school was. Julie also skateboards, and I think I've established her as one of Nicki's friends, but I haven't worked on their dynamic much.

Felicity Merriman

Doll: Historical Character (Felicity Merriman)

Added to my collection October 2017

I discovered Felicity in 2016 when my neighbor gave me her childhood American Girl books. I was slightly disappointed when the books were about an AG character I had never heard of, named "Felicity." I read them anyway, and ended up really liking her! That was my first realization that AG had retired characters. (I knew Marie-Grace wasn't sold anymore, but didn't know much beyond that.) 2017 gave us so many new AG characters, and regardless of the fact that 2017 is basically notorious for the perma-pantie controversy (among others), I thought it was awesome. We got Gabriela, Tenney, Logan, Felicity, Z, and Nanea. That group of dolls was genuinely so exciting to me in elementary school. That year for my birthday, my family went to the Dallas AG store. I didn't really know who I wanted to get (because I wanted all the dolls, duh), and I think some of my top contenders were: Josefina, Felicity, Nanea, Samantha, TM 21, and Logan. Yes, I ended up with Felicity. I was genuinely convinced she was the most beautiful doll ever. I know she's different from the original Felicity, but those different features were the ones that made her so special to me.

Wow I need to take actual pictures of Lissie...

My Felicity is wildly different from AG's character. For a while, she was like a modernized version of her AG character, but I discovered MixiePixie7 not too long after I got her, and I instantly decided I needed my own Sophie Claire. Because Felicity was my newest and prettiest, I decided it should be her. Since then, my Felicity has been into fashion, but she has progressively become less and less of a diva. Her aesthetic reflects that. I've started going with a little more of a vintage vibe with her, but yeah!

Felicity is also the whole reason I came up with Piney Grove in the first place, so, in a way, I credit all my doll lore to her. When I was 9, I was playing out this story where Felicity's necklace had been stolen, and needed a name for their location. Thinking on my toes, I came up with "The Piney Woods," and that eventually became the name of the woods outside my dolls' town. I've stuck with it ever since. 

She actually doesn't have a lot established for her character currently. In my mind, she has retained a lot of the aspects for her character I developed when I was younger, and I just haven't found a way to transition that to my current version of world building. 

Luciana Vega

Doll: Girl of the Year (Luciana Vega)

Added to my collection summer 2018

Back in the day, before I knew about leaks, I would get up early to find out who the new Girl of the Year was. 2018 was no different. I watched her Good Morning America reveal and... didn't care for her. Well, all that changed when the first catalogue of 2018 rolled around, and I suddenly really wanted Luciana. Naturally, I thought I'd have to wait until gift-giving season to get her... my birthday is in October. It was January. I did not want to wait. I asked my dad if there was any way I could make money, and he suggested that I start mowing the lawn for money So, that summer, that's exactly what I did. I still mow the lawn to this day. 😂 When I say I was obsessed with Luciana... I got a purple streak in my hair, had holographic combat boots, and started learning more about space. I eventually bought Luci and lots of her collection at the American Girl store in Denver. A core memory for me was, as I was walking out, a girl saw me and said to her mom: "Look at that girl's American Girl bags!" (It was two big bags. 😭) And I remember feeling so proud at that, because everything I was holding was purchased with my own money, and I had worked so hard for so long, and it felt amazing to be able to earn something I had worked hard for. 

Here's an oldie that I never posted! I took this in Colorado in 2024. 

Luciana has always been a consistent character. Her aesthetic hasn't moved much from the space-loving science nerd that I initially viewed her as. 

Luci doesn't get much spotlight in my blog or in my lore, but she has a special place in my heart. She's on the Piney Grove School of the Arts robotics team alongside Nellie, Courtney, and Maryellen. (But Nellie is her best friend.) Outside of being interested in math and engineering, Luciana is fairly outdoorsy. She's very ambitious and probably fights off constant burnout while still managing to somehow stay productive and wake up at 5 am every morning. I imagine her personality to be pretty dry, and I'd say she leans more to the pessimist side, but that makes her feel unique to me. She has a ton of potential, and I should really do more with her. 

So those are the details you need to know about my first 5 dolls! I really hope y'all like this series. There are a lot more dolls for me to go through. :) 

As always, have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3