Real American Girl: The Story Behind American Girl

In 1984, educator, writer, and entrepreneur Pleasant T. Rowland was looking for dolls to give her nieces for Christmas. She found baby dolls (which emphasize mothering) and teenage or adult dolls (which emphasize future aspirations of an older age), but no dolls that realistically represented girls in an nine-to-twelve age range. This experience was coupled with a visit to Colonial Williamsburg, a place which Rowland felt personified the accessibility of living history and which inspired her to create a line of historical character dolls and books. In 1986 the first Pleasant Company catalogs debuted character dolls Samantha Parkington, Kirsten Larson, and Molly Mclntire. Offered for sale with these dolls were the first three stories of each character's six-book series, period outfits and accessories, and storage options. The dolls were designed by Götz, a German doll-maker. Since then, the company has added to and expanded its historical character line as well as ceasing production of some older characters. The company has branched out into other product lines, among them the American Girl magazine, written in fiction and non-fiction publications, a line of  18-inch 'American Girl of Today' dolls, and the 'Bitty Baby' and 'Bitty Twins' collections. Pleasant Company was sold to Mattel, Inc. in 1997, and the name of the company changed to American Girl.

Here's a great site for beautiful, cool and affordable doll clothes for your 18 inch American girl doll My Pink Planet.