Retired American Girl Dolls

Before we get into this topic, we would like to point out that while every Girl of the Year is technically "retired", we will not be talking about them because we already have a post dedicated to every GOTY so there is no need for repetition. That post can be found here. This post will be about the Historical American Girl dolls who have been retired, in the chronological order that they were retired in. 

So far four dolls (and their friends) have been retired, making it a total of seven dolls. American Girl has not made it clear whether or not any of the collections will be taken out of retirement. The public gets a warning of the retirement anywhere from two to seven months before the time of removal from stores/online. American Girl's official reason for retiring dolls is:

"Like every company, American Girl is constantly revitalizing our products to best meet the needs of our customers and our business. While some items are discontinued, many other products are added to keep American Girl interesting and engaging, and to celebrate who girls are today."

The first doll that was retired by AG was Samantha and her friend, Nellie. They were from 1904 and began to sell in 1986 as one of the three original AG dolls. Samantha and Nellie were officially archived on May 31, 2009 but the Samantha doll had been sold-out since February 2009. Samantha's books dealt with social classes, women's rights and child labor. Samantha is an only child who gets herself into a lot of trouble with her ideas. Although she was retired, her and Nellie's mini dolls and her books are still available from AG. Samantha had a movie and was the first Historical doll to get one. She is played by AnnaSophia Robb.

The next doll that AG decided to retire was Kirsten. Like Samantha, Kirsten was one of the three original dolls released in 1986. She was a Swedish immigrant who moves from Sweden to Minnesota in 1854. Kirsten's books depict her as a shy, gentle girl who is good with children and animals. She looks up to her mother and wants to be like her mother when she is older. Kirsten's books are still available through AG but she was officially retired on New Year's day 2010.

Third to go was colonial Felicity and Elizabeth from 1774. Felicity was the first AG doll to be released  after the original three and was also the first to not have bangs. Felicity lives in colonial Williamsburg, VA and hears a lot of talk between the Loyalists and the Patriots. She is very strong-willed and stubborn which often gets into trouble. She was sold from 1991 until her retirement on March 28, 2011. Both Felicity and Elizabeth's mini dolls can still be bought along with Felicity's book series. Felicity also had a movie and was portrayed by Shailene Woodley 

Most recently, Molly and her friend Emily were retired on January 1, 2014. Molly was one of the three original dolls, making her the last one of the three to be retired. She is from 1944 and is the daughter of a doctor who is overseas in World War II. Emily is a British girl whose parents send her to live in the US to protect her from the war. Molly can be very stubborn but she wants to help with the war effort as much as possible to "do her part". Molly was the only historical AG doll to have glasses. She also received a movie with Maya Ritter playing the lead of Molly.

All of the three movies mentioned above were released in November, one year after each other, starting with Samantha's in 2004. Kitt is the only other Historical AG doll to have a movie but Addy has a play that began in 2007 and then got a traveling tour. 

So who will be the next historical doll to be retired?
The next dolls to go will likely be Addy or Josefina as they are not very good sellers and they are now the oldest dolls (released in 1993 and 1997, respectively). Kit and Kaya are the next oldest but Kit probably won't be retired because she is a pretty good seller and Kaya sells fairly well but has only been sold for 12 years (so she's pretty "young"). Julie, Rebecca and Caroline have all been released within the last decade so they definitely aren't going anywhere anytime soon. [This is just personal opinion]