agheaven - Tumblr blog

[agheaven]

Kirsten Larson in her St Lucia gown ft. little Sari

[agheaven]

Oh, you absolutely have the completely wrong blog for this question.

From 1917-1979, there was a magazine called 'The American Girl'. I believe it was originally published by the Girl Scouts of America? I know of it, but I don't know it's history very well.

In 1986, a toy/book brand under the collective title 'American Girl' was launched by the Pleasant Company. The brand's goals was to help educate young girls on history, and they had an interest in expanding into other fields of media to appeal to young girls, so they decided to start a magazine. From 1993-2019, Pleasant Company (later changed to American Girl Publishing) published a magazine called American Girl.

Although the magazine shares the same name, it has 0 ties to the older American Girl magazine that was published from 1917-1979.

My American Girl Magazine Scan Project is dedicated solely to the run published by Pleasant Company/American Girl Publishing, from 1993-2019. I do not have any scans or knowledge of the contents of the 1917-1979 magazine run.

The Internet Archive seems to have microfilm uploads of the entire (?) run of the 1917-1979 run of American Girl magazine, which you can find at the link here. I would recommend you take a look through there!

I am doing research and creating a video biography. I am in search of an essay written by Francis Ruley

I don't know who that is, and I don't see anything in her biography that would suggest she has ties to the toy and book brand line known as American Girl.

If you think she may have written an article for American Girl Magazine, her name doesn't ring a bell, and I can't think of anything she might have written for the magazine. Unfortunately I only provide the scans and post them online; I don't have a deep breakdown of the subjects addressed in each issue, as much as I'd love to offer a feature like that. Unless you're able to provide more specific details on what the article might be about, you would need to search the issues I've uploaded yourself.

I'll post this publicly in case someone else following me might know what you're talking about, but don't count on it!

[agheaven]

I am doing research and creating a video biography. I am in search of an essay written by Francis Ruley

I don't know who that is, and I don't see anything in her biography that would suggest she has ties to the toy and book brand line known as American Girl.

If you think she may have written an article for American Girl Magazine, her name doesn't ring a bell, and I can't think of anything she might have written for the magazine. Unfortunately I only provide the scans and post them online; I don't have a deep breakdown of the subjects addressed in each issue, as much as I'd love to offer a feature like that. Unless you're able to provide more specific details on what the article might be about, you would need to search the issues I've uploaded yourself.

I'll post this publicly in case someone else following me might know what you're talking about, but don't count on it!

[agheaven]

Thank you for going out of your way to find the pictures and share them!

I didn’t know if anyone else had seen this, but I wanted to share.

I just happened upon this, looking for something else. If you scroll down this page a little you can see some fan art of Rebecca, Kit, Molly, and Julie. It has them shown at age 18. I thought it was really cool.

Also, there’s some catalog photo concept art on the site. It’s really cool to see something like that, I thought. (Here’s the link to that, in case you can’t see it.)

(I don’t want to post the pictures myself, so as to make sure the artist get their credit. So I hope the links work. Let me know if it doesn’t, please.)

[agheaven]

Hi! I will be getting some AG magazines soon, some of which are not on the archive yet. Can I still send them in digitally per the instructions on your blog?

Yes, of course! The instructions on my blog on how to submit scans are still good :]

[agheaven]

Hello! I recently managed to find a good deal on some American Girl Magazine issues of note, and I got them uploaded online!

The 2 issues in question are:

Jan/Feb 2003 issue, aka the kickoff to the 10th anniversary celebration for the magazine! Sadly the actual application for the cover contest was not present in the issue, but it was still delightful to see all the celebratory articles.

Nov/Dec 2018 issue, aka the 2nd to last issue of American Girl Magazine! I was curious if there would be any signs or references to AG Magazine's impending cancellation, and I was curious how the 'Editor for a Day' contest turned out.

These are two very interesting issues to clean up one after another, and it definitely made me rather sentimental to reflect on. Go check out both of these issues over on the Internet Archive!

And as always, if you wanna help me get more issues scanned and uploaded, consider reviewing my submissions page or checking out my Ko-Fi!

[agheaven]

Hello, my name is Lainey and I'm a student at Hollins University working on an assignment for a class where I had to find a piece of media from my childhood and document how it is being preserved for the future. The American Girl magazines were a huge part of my childhood, but I wasn't too optimistic in finding them anywhere due the fact that something like a children's magazine is fairly ephemeral, so I was thrilled to see this project. Thank you for your work saving these for the future.

I'm glad to hear my magazine scans were able to help out with your class assignment! :>

If you want my 2 cents for your assignment, I feel like the Internet archive providing a method to easily share magazine scans with others in a way that doesn't require folks to download any extra files and just view straight from their browser goes a really long way. Scanning my entire AG magazine collection is something that has occurred to me a long time ago, but I always struggled with finding a good solution to presenting it. The internet archive providing that PDF preview where you can flip through pages like an actual magazine really gave me the encouragement that it was a worthwhile pursuit, that I could share what I have without thinking overly hard about how to share the individual pages.

[agheaven]

AG Magazine Scan Project Complete (for now)!

I just finished uploading the last of the July/August issues! With that, I've managed to upload every issue I currently own onto the internet archive!! You should check it out here!!

Don't mistake this post as me saying that every issue is uploaded; there's plenty of issues I'm missing, and even the stuff I uploaded is likely missing one thing or another. As always, you can view a complete list of all the issues I currently have uploaded, as well as notes on what I'm missing from each issue, on this page here.

I still plan to keep my eye out for any issues I'm missing on the 2nd hand market, but the speed I'm able to get the other issues will really rely on what the market is offering and what my budget that month is. You can always help me justify more magazine purchases by donating to my Ko-Fi!

If you have anything I'm missing, weather it's a magazine insert, a page of an issue, or the entire issue itself, I'm happy to accept anything and everything! I even made a snazzy submissions post with some basic guidelines and overviews on how to help out.

I would like to explore other ways to share these issues with folks outside of the internet archive, just to spread it out and not put all the chickens in one basket. One idea I've been considering is a separate blog that is dedicated solely to American Girl Articles, which I started here, but it will be Very Slow Going. I'll also see if there are ways of sharing the PDF files via other means as well. In the meantime, don't be shy about downloading files from the Internet Archive!! Tell your friends and keep your own copy!!

Thanks to all the support folks have shown for this project! It's not over yet, not by a long shot, but for now Whoo Boy I'm Ready For A Break

[agheaven]

Hi! I have a bunch of scans from old AG magazines, if you'd like them for the archive. Just let me know how it would be best to get them to you. Thanks so much for your work in putting the digital mag up. It's so fun to look back on them!

I would definitely be interested! I'm happy to compile them into one PDF file to upload onto the archive, and I am happy to credit you for the original scans!

If you have any scans to send me, I would recommend uploading them to google drive, then sharing the link to the drive to me. People have used tumblr's instant messaging system to send me the google drive link, just so we can talk more instantly and with a record of the conversation on both sides (plus it makes it easier for me to look it up later if I need to). I would recommend using tumblr's messages system to send me the link, but sending an ask is fine too!

[agheaven]

Thank you as always for your links @in-pleasant-company!!

Hi! I’m not sure really where else to ask this but maybe you could point me in the right direction. I was going through my doll stuff recently and found quite a few things from those AG doll kits (Doll Travel, Doll Dining, Doll Star, etc.). I’ve found some scans of the books online through the Internet Archive library, but I’m more interested in finding scans of the little cutouts that came with the book. I think it would be helpful to those of us who have lost some of these paper cutouts to time..

Sorry for the delayed response anon!!

I do recall the AG doll kits you're referring to; I remember seeing a fair share of them in Michaels back in the day. Unfortunately those never caught my eye as much, and I never bought any of it. Sad to say I'm not aware of anyone who may have uploaded the cutouts either.

If anyone following me knows of anywhere that the Doll Kit cutouts were uploaded and shared at, please reblog or reply to this post with details for this anon!

[agheaven]

Hi! I’m not sure really where else to ask this but maybe you could point me in the right direction. I was going through my doll stuff recently and found quite a few things from those AG doll kits (Doll Travel, Doll Dining, Doll Star, etc.). I’ve found some scans of the books online through the Internet Archive library, but I’m more interested in finding scans of the little cutouts that came with the book. I think it would be helpful to those of us who have lost some of these paper cutouts to time..

Sorry for the delayed response anon!!

I do recall the AG doll kits you're referring to; I remember seeing a fair share of them in Michaels back in the day. Unfortunately those never caught my eye as much, and I never bought any of it. Sad to say I'm not aware of anyone who may have uploaded the cutouts either.

If anyone following me knows of anywhere that the Doll Kit cutouts were uploaded and shared at, please reblog or reply to this post with details for this anon!

[agheaven]

if i can find it and remember to scan and send, my dog was on the cover of one in probably 1995 id really like to find that 🥺

Oh, how sweet!! ;w;

The 1995 issues I currently have (March/April, Sep/Oct, Nov/Dec) do not feature a dog, and I think the May/June issue is birthday themed. If I had to guess, either the 1995 Jan/Feb or July/Aug issue might have a dog on the cover, and Jan/Feb seems more likely to have a dog then a July/Aug issue, which might prioritize a summer theme over an animal theme.

Just to copy and paste my usual message: if you like the work I do and wanna help me get more magazines to scan and upload, I do have a Ko-Fi you can donate to so I can justify the cost of buying more magazines! If you have an issue I'm missing from my collection, you can also reach out to me with details on how you can help out!

Side note: I actually do have some magazine scans some others have supplied to me, which I'm immensely grateful for! I've been a bit slow with cleaning up scans lately (getting tired right before the finish line), but I do have them saved and I do plan to clean and upload them once all the July/August issues are uploaded :>

[agheaven]

I started keeping tabs (not directly following) on your blog because of the scan project and noticed the issues that were missing. I have several AG magazines, going from September/October 2008 to the end of the magazine's run (with bonus material like posters missing because I was one of those kids) and thought I could potentially pitch in some effort. How do you scan?

(sorry if this is written weird, I've been waiting to ask this question for a while and didn't know a concise way to phrase it)

Hello, thank you for reaching out! I'm so glad you're interested in helping me out with the scan project!

If you're looking for information on what specific scanners I use for the project, I've answered someone's question about it before over here! Long story short: as long as you send me JPG files at 300dpi, whatever scanner you use is fine! There will be some scanners that will make scanning an entire magazine issue a lot faster, but ultimately use whatever you have access to!

Be sure to check my list of AG issues I currently have in my collection! I try to note down any inserts/pages I'm missing, but I only tend to notice them when doing cleanup. Inserts tend to be the first thing missing, so if you don't have time to scan an entire issue, even just sending me scans of the inserts can help a lot!

When it comes time to send me the scans, uploading the files via an online file sharing such as google drive then sending me a link to said drive is probably the easiest way of sending the files over!

I'll get around to making a dedicated page with scanning instructions/specifications soon! That way folks can get the details on how to help out without having to send an ask!

[agheaven]

@doodling-daisies was kind enough to send me scans of the paper doll and cut-out pages from the Premier issue of American Girl magazine! That means the full complete Premier issue is now available online :) Thank you again for your scans!

Do you have an issue I'm missing pages from? Send me a scan, if you can! Send a message via Tumblr chat for more details/instructions!

[agheaven]

Do you remember a page in an American girl book that had daily meal ideas broken up by breakfast, lunch, etc? The only thing I remember is that it had sugar snap peas and a glass of milk for dinner. I thought it was in the care and keeping of you but I couldn’t find it in the pdf Mattel had posted online

I think you are remembering the Care and Keeping of You Book? My copy of the book has the sugar snap peas & milk for dinner, so think you are remembering the correct book.

My copy of Care & Keeping of You has a copyright date of 1998, but I know AG has re-released the book with new illustrations, and I wouldn't be surprised if they also updated/adjusted the contents of the book slightly, especially as the food pyramid has updated since the original publication.

[agheaven]

Hi there! Thank you so much for the work you've done on this project. It's incredible. I have been searching for years and years for this one reader recipe that I contributed when I was a kid. It was called "Great Grapes" and I'm pretty sure it is in the July/August 2005 issue. All of my copies were lost in a move so I can't check :( Is there any chance you could look for me or put out a request in the community? Thank you!!

Heya, I'm glad you've been enjoying the issues I've scanned!

A big reason I'm tackling this scan project to begin with was I was starting to get an uptick of people going 'hey, do you have this issue? Can you share scans of this article? Do you know what issue this article appeared in?' and I figured it'd be way more useful to just have every single issue I have scanned and uploaded online so folks can look it up themselves. I definitely have the July/August 2005 issue in my collection, but I don't have the issue scanned yet (and I don't have it on hand so I can't check it manually real fast to see if the Great Grapes is in there).

I just finished scanning all of my May/June issues, and I do plan to start on scanning all of my July/August issues next. I don't have any specific dates on when I'll have the July/Aug 2005 issue uploaded, but you can always keep an eye on my Ko-Fi page for updates when I complete a specific issue, or check out my profile on the Internet Archive.

[agheaven]

This project is a HUGE help! I’m trying to put together a complete collection of the magazines and their inserts, and sometimes the lots I buy come with extra sticker sheets that I’ve got to decipher where they came from.

Sometimes it’s just nice to see all of the magazines, too :)

I also have info/a question. Are you doing the special edition magazines? Because if you email AG the list of magazines they send is incomplete. I’ve found a few special editions that they weren’t aware of, but I did add that info to the wiki.

Hey, thanks for the kind words! I'm glad my magazine scans have been able to help you out! :)

I'm scanning the magazines I currently have in my collection, and I do not have any of the special edition magazines. I'm not opposed to cleaning up and sharing the special editions if I come across one at a used book store for dirt cheap or if anyone sends me their scans of the issue, but the 'main' issues are a higher priority in my time/money budget.