What Was Childhood Like In Shakespeare's London?: The London History Show

[@davidcarter5038]

As an old bloke in his 60s, I'm surely not the target demographic - but this was just wonderful - that hour just flew by!

[@BobOgden1]

same

[@CelticRiver252]

If you enjoyed it, then I'd say you are the target demographic!

[@katwitanruna]

62 female

[@andywright5029]

Another bloke in his 60's here - you made this fascinating in so many ways. Awesome!

[@rksnj6797]

I'm in your demographic and I also enjoyed it!

[@Magic__7]

"Im not writing a book." it sounds like something someone who going to make a write a book

[@NankitaBR]

Honestly, I would buy that book. And the doll and all the outfits and accessories.

[@gyrobyte626]

oh boy do i have news for you

[@Snek_123]

Foreshadowing

[@1234cheerful]

@@Snek_123 Indeed. "I'm not writing a book. Yet. Today." She can collaborate with someone maybe?

[@cailinanne]

Famous last words 😂

[@crayonburry]

A good KZbinr caters to an audience, a great KZbinr gets their audience interested in whatever they have to say.

[@mikaylaeager7942]

Hello! I’m one of the five people this video was made for!! I loved American Girls growing up! We couldn’t afford any of the doll stuff but I read all the books. You missed one important thing though. Every American Girl had a Best Friend (TM) who gave them another perspective on the time period. Kristen has Singing Bird, a Native American girl. Samantha had Nellie, a poor girl who worked in a factory. Felicity had Elizabeth, a British Loyalist. I think Catherine’s friend should be a catholic girl. She could meet her in Catherine Learns a Lesson where she sees that they face the same persecution in England that her family did in France. Then in Catherine Saves the Day she could help them escape persecution in some way.

[@cailinanne]

I think this is perfect! ❤

[@shirleymarie2288]

Yes. Definitely

[@user-bw8ji8bc7t]

i had a samantha and a nellie and this video has brought back so many memories for me aha

[@foo219]

Hey! Nice to meet you! I'm one of the 12.000 people this video wasn't made for but who wound up liking it anyway. I wasn't allowed dolls when I was a kid.

[@meganofsherwood3665]

@@mikaylaeager7942 That's perfect!!!

[@elizabethingermann5911]

One thing that might be worth checking out is Kaya's books. She is the indigenous doll (Nez Pierce specifically). Because she isn't christian, education is not a discrete category from ordinary activities, and birthday traditions are a bit of a question mark, her books break the traditional format a lot. Hers are 1. Meet Kaya 2. Kaya's Escape (in which she is briefly kidnapped during a conflict with another tribe and ends up having to leave her sister behind), 3. Kaya's Hero (in which a woman Kaya looks up to mentors Kaya for a time before dying, an Kaya has to process her grief and whether she feels like she lives up to the gift the woman gave her) 4. Kaya and the Lone Dog (which I never read but involves the birth of puppies) 5. Kaya Shows the Way (in which Kaya goes looking for her sister. it is not a saves the day story because her sister turns out to have joined the other tribe and chooses to stay with them. She doesn't need saving in the end) and 6. Changes for Kaya. It's a much bigger departure than you would necessarily want or need for Catherine, but it does kind of give an indicator of how much you can bend the rules. So in place of a birthday celebration for Catherine, there could be a new birth in the family. Maybe the baby is a little sickly, so there are worries if Catherine's new sibling will make it (but of course the baby does pull through). If we don't discuss Catherine's deceased siblings in much detail in the first book (beyond the fact she was named for an older sister who died), maybe concerns about the baby's health could spark some deeper conversation on that note. Maybe Catherine gets a bit overwhelmed and runs off, and that's where she finds an injured dog (bear-baiting gets a mention as a possible source of the dog's injuries but the sport is not actually witnessed by Catherine). She is too young to help with her sick sibling, but she can stitch up the dog and practice pleating ruffs by making one for her new pup. Both dog and sibling recover and there is a little family celebration (idk what the position was on infant baptism among huguenots, but maybe we get a bit of that as well). So we have a birthday story and Catherine gets a dog with a ruff, but it stays true to period.

[@Luannnelson547]

Janet Shaw, who wrote the Kaya books, lives here in Asheville, NC. She spoke at my children’s elementary school back in around 2002-ish and was really wonderful with the students. She also wrote the Kirsten books.

[@tananario23]

How about not?

[@mariecarie1]

@elizabethinggermann5911 I really like this idea a lot! Just your story summary reads like an American Girl story. It’s lovely!

[@Werevampiwolf]

There is actually one American Girl doll that doesn't have her mouth open. It's Kaya/Kaya'aton'my, because she's from the Nez Perce tribe, and after consulting with actual Nez Perce people, the people running American Girl found out that smiling while showing teeth is traditionally considered to be rude. She was my favorite American Girl as a child. I only had one of her books but I read it a lot.

[@emmapeara7108]

Thanks for this! I had the Kaya doll partially because she had a less creepy smile but I had no idea why 😅

[@scottwilhelm2086]

I was wondering about that. Based on the presentation, American Girl looked very White.

[@cmaden78]

@@Werevampiwolf actually I'm pretty sure I read my 1st one in the mid 80s. So yeah there probably older than u think

[@colbyreader]

I loved Kaya. My friend had Kaya and I always chose to play her.

[@leagunn1054]

43:03

[@DiesIrae3434]

I'm a guy but grew up with three sisters, so I shared many interests with them. When they started to get American Girl Dolls I decided I wanted one, too, and fortunately my parents were OK with it. I loved all of the historical clothing and accessories and stories, and history is a major passion of mine to this day. I would love to see this type of dolls normalized for all kids: instead of hyper-masculine GI Joe's or hyper-feminine Barbie, just normal kids from different time periods.

[@DiesIrae3434]

Also, forgot to mention, fantastic work and presentation, these looked great! Sharing with my wife, she is not as big into history but she loves miniatures and handicraft generally.

[@bback4078]

​@@DiesIrae3434 I love the story you shared and totally agree about normalizing historical character doll for kids.

[@bback4078]

[@lilykatmoon4508]

That’s awesome

[@sharonguerra7440]

I never understood why kids couldn't just play with whatever toys brought them joy. I was a fairly prissy little girl who loved my Barbies. But I also loved my Tonka Truck construction set, my Hot Wheels, and my Lincoln Logs (yep, I'm that old).

[@HumDoodle]

So my research is a little shaky, but as far as I'm aware, Liz 1 accepted birthday gifts. Her birthday was in September, so maybe Catherine's father could be commissioned to make an outfit for a courtier attending the Queens' b-day celebration. At the same time, a neighbours dog gives birth to puppies. This gets Catherine talking to her mum and sister about the day she was born her mum mentioned it was round about this time of year, so Catherine puts on her own "birthday like" celebration and as a gift her parents adopt one of the neighbours puppy's. Catherine uses scraps from her fathers commission to create a ruff and waist coat for her puppy named Puck, her favourite midsummer's night's dream character!

[@Kazzamatazzz]

yessssss

[@71lizgoeshardt]

@@HumDoodle oh shit, this is amazing.

[@mikeymullins5305]

Ag girls always have their birthday in the spring after the Christmas book. Otherwise, I think you have a great idea.

[@Kazzamatazzz]

@@mikeymullins5305 while it took much longer than it does now for clothing to be made in Elizabethan times, still it could be set in late spring/early summer and the courtier is making sure that they have the order in, in time for everything to be completely done by September (especially if Catherine's father is a fairly popular/successful tailor with lots of orders)

[@estrella9944]

This! I love this idea!!

[@cassiegiordano6158]

You nearly had me at “I’m not gonna make a bunch of historical outfits.” I was about to shout “but that’s what I’m here for!” at my phone before I read your pause correctly.

[@cmrsnowflake]

Ideas for "Birthday" book - Were saints days a thing? - Maybe, since we know Catherine was named after a deceased sibling, there's an event that reminds her parents of that and they tell the story of her birth. It would be grimmer than a celebration, allow a sensitive way to explore child mortality and resilience, but still lead to warm fuzzy scenes of familial caring and grateful reflections on Catherine growing up. Maybe they decide to make a special dish that connects with both the sad and happy memories. Maybe they sing a family hymn. Maybe Catherine feels differently about her pesky younger siblings at the end. Ideas for "Summer" book: - Would a localized urban catastrophe like a fire or a building collapse or flooding or a smaller contagious outbreak potentially lead the family to temporarily relocate outside the city? Maybe Catherine makes friends with a country girl and compares their lives. Maybe there's something they desperately need to acquire from the city market and Catherine uses all her city-girl skills to help, exploring urban geography, transportation, and the social dynamics of travel through the city. Overall: I love it!!!! Why isn't some millionaire rushing to finance the full series ALREADY???

[@Amelia-vk4jt]

As a girl with francophone grandparents I wonder if they had name days in Elizabethan time

[@requiembeeblebroxx]

The tiny Calvin's Catechism is absolutely hilarious and I love it

[@shawnpeterson3386]

I wanted to see it folded into a folio, like Shakespeare's plays.

[@ashleysharkey6406]

As an Australian bloke who likes classic cars and works as an engineer, this could not be further from my regular interests. The first scene about your analytics had me chuckling, because I knew going in that this wasn't the video for me. I've never been so entertained by an hour of someone talking about dolls aimed at 8 year old girls. This was brilliant!

[@jennifersaylor6907]

You know what's sad, cars have so many computer chips in them anymore I do not know a single "CAR GUY" anymore.

[@ashleysharkey6406]

@@jennifersaylor6907 I did specify classic cars for that reason. Fuel injection and computers and wires scare me.

[@fionagray9687]

Also Australian. Was reminded that the Victorian period is generally known as the Federation Period in Australia.

[@Wayzor_]

@@jennifersaylor6907 We call ourselves "Tuners" now.

[@Miss_Kisa94]

Maybe if you have a daughter or granddaughter you can read them these stories 😊

[@71lizgoeshardt]

"Catherine Saves the Day" Catherine goes to the countryside to help out a cousin/family acquaintence for the summer. We get some Elizabethan rural life. Then there's an ongoing problem with poachers. Catherine finds out who the poacher is, it's a boy about her age. He's doing it to help his family. She's involved in a thrilling nighttime chase to warn her new friend so he doesn't get caught and then also helps him to realize he shouldn't break the law. All's well that ends well.

[@firecracker3911]

Wonderful! I would love to read that story!

[@HumDoodle]

@@71lizgoeshardt I love this

[@thetimetravellingtailor6323]

Ooh, I love this idea! Also a good way to teach kids about the origin of what a "poacher" actually is in history being someone who kills game on someone else's land. Since, these days poacher is usually associated with wild African animals and endangered species.

[@essiebee8415]

And! The boy can be a Catholic, going along with the American Girl theme of empathising with minorities and learning to get along. Catherine discovers that even though the Catholics in France hurt her family, they're not all bad and everyone is really more similar than they are different.

[@71lizgoeshardt]

@@essiebee8415 This is excellent

[@triciahatch4081]

Adult American Girl doll collector here. A fair number of the outfits made in the early years of Pleasant Company had period accurate closings and fasteners. Kit’s cardigan and Kirsten’s sweater have little tiny buttons and buttonholes. Felicity’s pinner apron pins to her dress with straight pins. Etc. I find my granddaughters’ little tiny fingers can do these up better than my adult arthritic ones

[@ninjabakuraHD]

I'm American and I live in England now, and my English husband who watches your videos religiously just HAD to show me this video and I'm so glad I got to experience this precious treat. Thank you SO much. As a kid we could never afford the dolls but my mother somehow got her hands on an assortment of the American Girl books and I loved each and every one of them. You briefly mention Kit in the video and she was my favourite - I believe her first book was introduced in 2000 - she was a spunky tomboy of the Great Depression that I related to so hard. And then, in 2002 American Girl released their 'Girls of Many Lands' series of which I also found all the books at my local library. These were the best treat as they were a little more aged-up (around 12?) and showed more peril, more direct impact of historical issues, and were a bit less wholesome and idealistic but still featured our young heroine saving the day or making adults see the errors of their ways. They also explored deeper topics like female literacy, the Opium occupation, English occupation of India, etc. Now looking at the American Girl website I can see that they've introduced a new doll, Rebecca Rubin, from 1914, whom I would have been OBSESSED with as a child had she existed, because she represents a lost part of American Judaism which early American Girl stories had not yet explored for whatever reason - and it would have meant I could have seen myself represented too. J Draper, I'm so glad you made this video, I am 100% the niche target audience, and this brought me right back to getting lost in these stories of girls with a good heart and a sense of fun. Thank you!!!

[@joankasper]

As someone who knew every single thing about American Girl Dolls as a kid and is now a Shakespearean actress…I think I might be the exact niche target audience for this video

[@nosuchthingasshould4175]

‘I reckon young master Thomas is definitely into bell ringing’ - I bet he is. Every day.

[@zoeyc5851]

"Those kids and that god damn bell ringing!"

[@8bitdiedie]

@@zoeyc5851”Back in my day, we didn’t have bells! We had to actually use our voices to call people over to church like a real man! Bells are sign of a lazy and degenerating society!”

[@rksnj6797]

@@zoeyc5851 , hey you kids, get off of my bell!!!

[@tarta.f.withcookie1599]

@@nosuchthingasshould4175 lmao!!!

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

Hahahahaha Boys will be ringing their bells!

[@basicallybet]

We were super poor when I was a kid, but we got all of the American Girl books from the library and my mom read them to us before bed. It made me love history. My grandma eventually bought each of us an American Girl doll for our birthdays. She also made each of us clothes for our dolls because the clothes from the catalog were super expensive and the doll alone was an outlandish gift for us. We played with those dolls all the time and they fell down hills and out of trees and into the bath tub and held up incredibly well. We each still have our original dolls even though they’re all around thirty years old. The hair is in bad shape, but other than that, those dolls are perfect.

[@mellie4174]

You know, you can send them to the American girl hospital and they'll replace the hair for you

[@bettyand42]

iirc they replace the whole head, which you may not want. rewigging them yourself isn't super difficult or expensive. I want to rehab my own childhood doll who's around the same age and has frizzy hair, loose joints, etc, and I found lots of people doing restoration/customization videos.

[@melissahughes4205]

In the 80's we had My Friend Dolls, which came in Brunette, Blonde, Redhead and Boy. Each only had one outfit, but there were tons of Butterick sewing patterns including 'pioneer' dresses no doubt inspired by Little Home on the Prairie. My mom made them beds, and wardrobes for all the doll clothes she sewed. When AG dolls came out years later, I remember reading the catalog with all its curated accessories and period-specific furnishings and was like Wow this is just a bougie version of what *we* had.

[@thelavendercreator6549]

American Girl used to have a line of dolls called Girls of Many Lands, and one of the characters is a girl named Isabel Campion from 1592 London! She has a book titled Isabel: Taking Wing. I absolutely loved this video and I love the outfits you made, it's all incredibly lovely!

[@leilasmila]

Regarding pins as closures, you're always wearing enough layers underneath that you bury the end inside the layers and it doesn't touch you!

[@Naharu.]

Knowing my luck l'd somehow get a pin stuck in my pits or something

[@chazhoosier2478]

"What better Shakespeare play to celebrate 12th Night than....A Midsummer Night's Dream!" 🤣

[@frugalhousewife9878]

Same

[@adamnaameeazim6365]

This is the exact kind of super niche KZbin video that I ADORE.

[@JHilerio]

A niche interest, explored and expanded with enthusiasm? YES. IMMEDIATELY YES.

[@snuggtop]

I am one of the four to five perverts this content is for. American Girl (specifically Molly) sparked my fascination with how history, fashion, and social status interact. Your content is truly delightful, always interesting and well-researched. You made so many doll clothes! Incredible.

[@andreafeelsfantastic]

3:48 a zip is the American version of a post code! This is delightful and I can’t believe your friends were not entranced to hear about this project.

[@trixiesbagoftricks4899]

Incidentally, in the early 2000s, there was a short-lived doll line from American Girl called ‘Girls from Many Lands’. It was aimed at older girls and featured, well, girls from many lands. There was a doll and one book for each character. One of them was from Elizabethan England. Her name was Isabel.

[@featheredskyblue]

They did! They also did a little cheat with her hair. She wears a tiny snood, and underneath it she's actually got a bob. I got several Girls of Many Lands dolls a while back, and I ended up getting an extra of Isabel (her clothes were damaged when she arrived). Because I didn't want her to just go to waste, I dressed her in 1940s clothes because of her hairstyle.

[@trixiesbagoftricks4899]

@@featheredskyblue Oh, that’s interesting! I have the books, but I’ve never seen the dolls in person. Did you make the 1940s clothes?

[@featheredskyblue]

@@trixiesbagoftricks4899 I did not make the clothes, but I did tailor them! The Girls of Many Lands dolls can wear some Blythe clothes, so I sourced pieces that fit the period and adjusted them to fit. (I love making doll clothing, but I wasn't up for the process of drafting a pattern from scratch to fit their bodies) They're honestly really lovely dolls. I love Helen Kish's doll designs.

[@LauraOtermat]

I loved Isabel's plotline on falconry.

[@trixiesbagoftricks4899]

@@featheredskyblue That’s awesome. I have an interest in fashion history (aided by my childhood-and adulthood-love of American Girl) and this video and your comment have me thinking about trying my hand at dressing some dolls historically.

[@bback4078]

I was telling my daughter about this video and she pointed out that Felicity did have a loyalist friend, Elizabeth (a doll was made of the friend) so there's a Brittish American doll (in her view at least)

[@briegabrielle5394]

@@bback4078 and Molly’s ‘friend’ was Emily - a sea-evacuee from England. So actually there are 2 English dolls in the original line up.

[@VetsrisAuguste]

A friend of mine who had been a child actor spent a few years appearing as Samantha and Molly at store events and openings. She would be dressed and made up identically to the dolls with all the same attention to detail you mention. She says to this day it was the best quality wardrobe she’s ever worn in her acting career. She was only one of several girls who portrayed various American Girls at these special events.

[@Platypi007]

As a young boy growing up in the 80s and 90s my sister read the American Girl books, and i always loved reading them too. She never had any of the dolls, we always were hovering just around the poverty line back then, but i also always loved looking through the catalog. Its amazing all the accessories available. I always especially loved the Christmas books and learning about different customs.

[@DanceswithDustBunnies]

As an Anglophile, history nerd, and historical costumer, I AM IN LOVE!!! One note on the blue velvet gown--and I know you know this--the top of the skirt would not have been a ruffle. The skirt was very long and tucked up, over the wheel farthingale, and pinned in place to form a "ruffle." But, as you've noted several times, having pins in doll kit for 8-9 year olds would not be good. Please keep this series going, I absolutely love it!!

[@melissahughes4205]

OK the first two outfits are adorable and as period-accurate as possible for a turnip-headed poppet; an everyday look, a "Sunday best" look, very well, very good, fine, nice, love it. Then you give me pint sized Titania in scalloped double sleeved velvet and a donkey mask. Its official, we have reached the apex of KZbin historical fashion, all the other channels can just pack it in. Absolutely Fantabulous

[@mellie4174]

Hi, i have the addy books and doll. And they did a good job exposing the vilaneous nature and sheer torture of slavery in a child friendly way. The slave master physically forces addy eat a catapillar as punishment for having missed some on the row she was supposed to be working. I remember as a child being shocked and horrified by that act and instantly having empathy for the slaves and hatred of slavery. It did not however traumatize me. But it was shocking enough that it really caused me reflect on slavery and what their lives were like. I remember turning it over in my mind for about a month after reading the series. I think they did a great job with that series!

[@streetsoldier7u3]

I met the writer of Samantha's books at a book fair when I was a kid. Apparently she wanted to name Samanthas friend Phoebe but her editor made her change it because they thought kids wouldn't be able to read Phoebe. My name is Phoebe. That's why it was brought up.

[@meganrogers3571]

My daughter's name is Phoebe! It has been mispronounced, and my guess is because American English hasn't retained the -oe that's still sometimes used in British English. But thanks to the continued popularity of the TV show Friends, people have heard of it. I bet using the name Phoebe would have ended up being ok in the American Girl books if they'd decided to do that.

[@jamesderiven1843]

In her defence I grew up reading The Magic School Bus books and had no clue how to pronounce "Phoebe", though I was familiar with the name. Just not the spelling. There was also Hermione in the potter books, a name unknown where I lived.

[@meganrogers3571]

@@jamesderiven1843 I had no idea how to pronounce Hermione until the character tries to teach Viktor Krum how to say it in the fourth book. American readers all collectively said, "ooooh, so that's how you say it!"

[@lisakilmer2667]

This is absolutely brilliant. The whole American Girl Doll phenomenon is a uniquely uplifting and empowering entertainment world. Creating an Elizabethan doll is such a good idea. The accessories for the historical dolls were almost unbelievably good, and hard to replicate without actually buying the "authentic" ones. Lookalike dolls popped up quickly, but the accessories were so specific (and expensive)!

[@SirThopas3]

As a little girl who checked out all the American Girl books from the library and seethed with jealousy every time one of my school friends got an actual American Girl doll, you are living my dream.

[@thedreaming989]

I was that girl too. So greatful for local libraries.

[@bookishbassoonist2210]

As a Jewish girl growing up in a suburban community with a tiny Jewish population, I adored Rebecca. Especially since she’s a Russian Jew whose family moved to the states around the same time my ancestors did. She looked a lot like me, and some of our experiences with antisemitism were quite similar. She was also a loner nerdy musician who loved her culture and an outspoken person like me. It was amazing to have representation like doll sized Hannukiot (hannukah menorahs) and a character I could relate to so much!

[@JaneHornsby-iz9ob]

Did you read the "All of a Kind Family" books as a child? I'm NOT Jewish, but I loved them, learning about Jewish practices but also early 20th century urban life.

[@amethyst_cat9532]

I'm not Jewish, but Rebecca was one of my favorites too (mostly because she looked like me and we had similar personalities) and today I'm glad that her books gave me an early inoculation against anti-Semitism, which I didn't realize was a part of my childhood environment until I was much older

[@idridian]

this entire video was such a delight, but the reveal of the final accessory for the "surprise" outfit ENDED me adhgshdfhasd. i knew what it was going to be, and i still wasn't ready for the slow pan up catherine's form underscored by Also Sprach Zarathustra. truly iconic!

[@hrani]

It was absolutely perfect! The music choices in general were delightful but that was bloody art!

[@annbrookens945]

You are so right! The donkey's head was beautifully made and the musical choice was superb!

[@Jo3man96]

The fact that I, a 28 year old bloke that’s usually into cars and motorsport, was drawn in fully to this, really shows how good you are at being a communicator. Absolutely love this channel.

[@Wayzor_]

51 year old car dude from the US, was completely drawn in to the whole process. I appreciate the effort and was remined of my niece during the 2000's and how her interest in these dolls were directly tied into her participation in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Which is a historical/genealogy society.

[@Saffron-sugar]

You’re not the only man talking about how he’s usually into man stuff on here 🤔

[@Jo3man96]

@@Saffron-sugar I mean, in my day to day, my interests are pretty bloke-y, doesn’t stop me appreciating things that are seen as more traditionally feminine by society, even if it’s at a distance through the lens of history, or looking at it any other way. It’s like how I appreciate the work people put into their makeup, even though I don’t wear it, although that’s partially down to giving me a rash if too much gets on my skin.

[@everybodygotthat]

Love the period-appropriate electronic dance music when you show off the finished doll outfits.

[@phenomadology23]

Buying an American Girl doll was an unimaginable luxury when I was a kid - but man did we love to pore over the catalogue and pick out what we "would" buy. Love this whole idea. Best bit was the donkey's head - chef's kiss!

[@InksplatOops]

I adore this video. I will now pine for the book series. Roman Girl and Saxon Girl would be so much fun to see too. But Catherine must have taken soooo much time to put together. The complete Titania outfit is hilarious and perfect.

[@silkvelvet2616]

Celtic or Pictish Girl would be awesome too

[@polkadot8788]

Viking girl and Norman girl perhaps.

[@s.judson]

To add a comment about using pins in your clothing... as a historical reenactor I have used straight pins. In most of the time periods of the past, you would weave the pin through the fabrics and then bury the sharp point of the pins into your stiff undergarment (stays, jumps, corsets etc). This kept the pins relatively secure so you didn't get poked. It also made the garments very adjustable to your figure securing a snug fit. Like many things, it doesn't make sense in our modern world but if you start living 'in the time period' you can see why people did things they way they did.

[@markfisher7962]

In the era of The American Doll, my wife and I were busy helping to outfit our granddaughters' dolls. My wife did dresses and I did a wardrobe (with doll-sized coathangers, natch) and bed. Making doll-sized furniture is fun!

[@Superhero1in1Trainig]

The 3rd costume's suprise: The Scream I Scrumped!! This whole doll and design and storyline are absolutely FANTASTIC!

[@kashigata]

As a sewer and crafter, I’m incredibly impressed by the huge amount of work you put into this video. Your work is always fascinating and well researched but this was a tour de force. If I met someone who told me about doing a project like this I would’ve been encouraging and excited. Thank you! ❤❤❤

[@Aoderic]

As a History teacher, I am amazed how well made these books are. It's the kind of history I like to teach, the story of ordinary people. Not endless list's of Kings nor Wars and Battles.

[@fairygrove3928]

I also have the honor of teaching history, and my goal with each lesson is to help kids understand what life was like for people back then. I LOVE having them learn historical skills, so they can realize that they--too--can create useful things. I honestly wonder if part of my love of "ordinary people" history comes from my childhood love of American Girl Dolls. I spent HOURS staring at that catalogue and wishing I had the Samantha doll.

[@Salamon2]

It's the kind of history that I wish was taught more.

[@KatieMoshier]

It's a good thing I'm not a middle/high school history teacher because I would assign a project like this, where the students would have to create an American-Girl-style doll in a different time/place. Very well done on this!

[@sujimtangerines]

My 9th grade Advanced English teacher also had previously taught History. One of our assignments had been to "translate" a passage in Romeo & Juliet into something more modern. I lived in the deep south at the time, so one group exaggerated our accents & added more familiar idioms. Another tried to use street slang (which was as cringe back then as it is now). My group & I decided to run with it in a way we thought - had he been alive at that time - Shakespeare would have appreciated our satirization. We did the balcony scene in Valley Girl style. In 1985. Needless to say, when Clueless came out, - basically Valley Girl Emma - it became an instant favorite. (10 Things I Hate About You is also in my top 10 movie list. I love GOOD adaptations!) So, I probably would have loved this assignment by a history teacher.

[@cyberpupplays]

​@@sujimtangerines That's hilarious! The mental image of Valley Girl-style Shakespeare plays is top notch

[@mollymarjorie9495]

As a teacher, I want to do this now....

[@sujimtangerines]

@@mollymarjorie9495 If you do, please come back and let us know how it goes.

[@lnt305]

That sounds so cool and like something I would have hated to do as a kid 😅

[@binbadende]

Here I sit, a 60 year old software engineer from Germany, and am totally in awe for your three doll dresses. And i blame that more on your wonderful story telling than on becoming senile. As an autumn child: Thank you so much for this surprise.

[@prettypic444]

As a weird history girl, I *loved* American Girl, to the point where I actually saved my pennies and bought one when I was 10- my favorite, Kit, the Great Depression girl. I’m glad you Brits are finally getting in on the action!

[@Jademalo]

I absolutely adore that blue dress, the stars are absolutely perfect and those sleeves are incredible

[@brucekaraus7330]

We had an American Girl store in Chicago and our daughters would lose their minds when we went there. They each had a favorite. Ofcourse, a small fortune was required to purchase everything and unfortunately, we were never in the fortune business.

[@jennifers5560]

The store is still there. We just took our great niece there a few months ago.

[@papillionbella]

​There's an American Girl Store in most major cities, I tool my nieces on their birthdays. We made a day of it. We'd start in the Bistro for lunch, and then stroll the isles for their gift. I got them their first dolls for Christmas, and then the store trips were for accessories, or clothes.

[@beth7467]

I forced my adult son and husband to come with me into the American Girl store when we visited Chicago many years ago. I didn't buy anything, but man, did I ever enjoy breathing in the ambience. I would've been all over these dolls when I was a kid.

[@jennifers5560]

@@beth7467 I LOVE all the things you can besides the doll.

[@thehomeschoolinglibrarian]

I am still debating on if we are going to go into the American Girl store when we visit Chicago in September. It is across the street from the Sports museum but my daughter is only 5 so a little young yet for an American Girl doll.

[@sheleavitt06]

I grew up ogling my sister’s American Girl catalog every year, reading the books from the library, and playing with my friend’s doll. We couldn’t afford the American Girl dolls but I also didn’t understand the concept of “brands”. I just wanted an 18” doll with brown hair and eyes that looked like me so I could finally play with my best friend who had a Samantha doll. So for Christmas 9 year old me got a knock off brand from Target called Liberty Girls. They were a series of 4 dolls that were all cousins from different parts of the US in the 1880s. They each came with one book that was her journal and you got to learn about history from her perspective. My doll’s name was Eliza and she was immigrating to the US from Italy alone ahead of her immediate family but would be going to her relatives in America. So a literal Ellis Island story. I loved this doll who had the most adorable leather boots and my mom sewed a whole bunch of clothes for her that I would like to wear and some of them were even made out the scraps of fabric from my own dresses she had made for me through out the year. It was awesome to finally get to dress up just like my doll the way those girls on the TV commercial did. I didn’t even like dolls really but boy howdy I loved this doll. Still have her and all her outfits 😻

[@allisonseamiller]

Kathrine's Surprise Outfit has destroyed me. I will never emotionally recover from how adorable that was.

[@snowgall]

Absolutely fascinating. I am an American, but I was too old for American Girl dolls when they were in their heyday, so while I vaguely knew what they were about, I learned so much from this video and gained a new respect. I also am SO IMPRESSED by your ideas on how to adapt the concept to showcase British history, and all your hard work at making the clothes and accessories. Your love for history and fashion, and knack for engaging content is so clear. Wow wow wow. Wish someone would finance a line of these dolls with you as a historical/creative consultant!

[@foxesofautumn]

I love this idea for a toyline. We don't have anything like this in Australia either though we did have a really cool book/tv series called My Place about everyone who resided by a specific tree (eventually in a specific house) from pre-European settlement up to the late 20th century. One of the family's children would be the main character and it dealt with things like the effect on regular people of war, what it was like to be an immigrant in Australia, what life was like for a young aboriginal kid trying to prove himself to his elders, how to deal with being a spirited girl in the strict early 20th century etc. It's a really good series and seems to be in the same spirit of the American/English girl dolls.

[@29jgirl92]

That sounds like such a cool series!

[@heathercurry898]

Omg I loved your blank look at the camera when you said “I’m not going to make a bunch of historically accurate outfits!” The outfits are so cute too!

[@andrewdavis1033]

Thank you for explaining to this American guy what the American Girl books and dolls actually are! I mostly know them from shelving them when I worked in the children's section of the local library, and somehow I had always vibed that they were either crude patriotic mythmaking or stealth religious propaganda or both. I'm quite happy to find out that I was very wrong and that they were educational, wholesome, and more historically authentic than I expected (while also being successful at getting girls to crave their merchandise, of course). I look forward to making time to watch the whole thing!

[@janmelantu7490]

I was NOT expecting to hear an American Girl having a crush on her teacher.

[@sheleavitt06]

When she reads it like that it does sound like a crush😅 I however never interpreted it that way. More like how kids look up to and idolize grownups and wish that they looked like them too because they are pretty and I want to be pretty too like this film star for instance. I feel that’s different than a crush but that’s just me.

[@joanhelenak]

​@@sheleavitt06 I agree, at that same age I did think there were pretty girls and I wished I had their hair, body type, clothing style, etc. It was totally different than the crushes I would get when I was older, and fantasized about a life with them. There are people now I admire or find physically attractive but wouldn't call them a crush.

[@NJMerlin]

75-year-old American male, and childless, so of minimum use, but a few top-of-my-head notes. Are you quite certain that you are aware of all three of patent, copyright, and trademark? They are somewhat alike, but are three independent issues, and their own legal universes. My wife reminds me that a maker of miniatures might be of some assistance. Recent scholarship has failed to uncover any actual evidence that women were legally forbidden from the stage; but given the harsh treatment given to male players without protectors, and the general separation of women’s and men’s work, perhaps custom assumed the force of law. Apparently some actresses worked in the provinces. Since I’m old enough to have spent them with my own hands, I’ll make bold to remind you not to forget £sd. And it was worse then, what with angels, crowns, farthings, and marks (but no florins, guineas, sovereigns, or notes or any kind).

[@Sweetthang9]

Nobody actually thinks that's what the author meant by that.

[@janmelantu7490]

@@Sweetthang9 authorial intent does not matter

[@gracebolton4516]

I don’t usually leave comments on videos, but your work to come up with a whole entire persona for Elizabethan Catherine is completely amazing. I love how much effort and research you put into this and any museum would be lucky to have you in their outreach and education department. Best of luck and thanks for sharing your passion with us 🥰

[@bretbenton1661]

Your ability to show your enthusiasm for history is impressive. I am 55 and enjoy learning from you.

[@Treia24]

Someone may have already said this, but Addy absolutely did come with her hair in an elaborate braid! I'm not sure if there were manufacturing changes after Matel bought out Pleasant Company, but at the very least, under Pleasant Company she even had a reasonably accurate hair texture, rather than being the same as the white girls! The additional pic in the catelog is a suggestion for kids to change the doll's hairstyle. They sold hair supplies for the dolls, and published some tutorials on different ways to style the dolls' hair based on their period, location, and background. It was pretty cool

[@quotelation]

Yep, and she still came with textured hair in a braided bun after Mattel bought Pleasant Company! There used to be a little insert card in the box to help you redo the bun if you took it out.

[@SomeoneBeginingWithI]

If you want to do more London girl videos, you could maybe get in touch with Bernadette Banner and ask her to do art for you? She's a historical dress youtuber who went to art school for costume design, she's really good at drawing historically accurate clothes as well as making them.

[@GildaLee27]

OMG. A Draper-Banner collab would be the living end. Banner's in residence in the UK now!

[@sylvanaire]

I agree. Bernadette’s YT channel is nearly as niche as yours, lol, and she is fabulous at hand sewn garments. Even if you never did a video together, I bet you two would hit it off personally. You seem like you could be soulmates. 😂

[@mathildewijn3113]

Yes, a collab with Bernadette Banner would be awesome.

[@Grace-ms7un]

Yay i found my people 😂

[@riverAmazonNZ]

As someone who regularly makes doll clothes, you did an amazing job! Doll clothes are trickier than you’d imagine, and often more difficult than human clothes. You need to use different techniques such as attaching the sleeves before sewing the side seams, having a false front opening and the real opening at the back, and various other little tricks.

[@gordo6908]

are there any resources you'd recommend for prospective doll tailors?

[@IskandrArchive]

I love everything about this, i would encourage any creator out there to make an "American Girl Doll" for their culture, as a young kid I was obsessed with the stories about kids throughout history. I would love to learn about more cultures through the eyes of their children.

[@laurabrewer9131]

This is was so much fun. As a girl growing up in the 80s & 90s in America, I read many of the American Girl Doll stories and they did definitely help expand my interest in history. We couldn't afford the dolls, but we did get the catalogs and had so much fun dreaming about which doll and accessories we would get. The books were a lot of fun and made history seem real and accessible to my 8-11 year-old self. I love the idea of seeing dolls like this from England, or from many other countries. Yes, it does sugarcoat things, but they do touch on important topics and give children a basic understanding to then build off of.

[@jedipoz]

The mockender (the little towel for small kids to keep their hands clean) is fascinating!! I bet that was like a security blanket for a looooooot of kids.

[@loverizzato9081]

"You haven't waisted 6 acres of fabric!" As a sewist I fear this with every single project. J, you're absolutely brilliant!!!

[@Beithyr]

As a suggestion for the "Birthday" book of the series, Horoscopes and Astrology are starting to get very popular in this time period with people like Jon Dee as the Queen's court astrologer. And while their taboo and a bit of a legal grey area - their very fashionable and a bit of a craze, with scholars casting horoscopes at local markets and fairs to earn money on the side. You could have Katherine trying to find out what her birthday actually is in order to keep up with the new trend?

[@Tortall2012]

As someone who had American Girl Dolls as a child (and I still have them because gosh are they expensive), I absolutely adore how you have put this project together. It rings true to so many different patterns in the American Girl storytelling style while still maintaining a uniquely British feel and style. I also love how you have incorporated the darker themes religious persecution, plague, famine, and infant mortality into the narrative as well. If you went ahead with making this into a book series similar to the American Girls it would fit perfectly with their layout.

[@dinborough]

Never thought a doll outfit project would excite me so much and keep me glued to the screen for an hour nor that it could be so educational about so many things. Fantastic work!

[@akalsalleriye]

This is one of the most insane but best thing I've ever seen on KZbin. The frustrated apology about doll hair lengths or her huge head is so familiar to anyone who's ever started any creative project and grown to hate all the stupid unanticipated details. Thank you for doing this.

[@JustYourAverageGirl2002]

OMG!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW OVER THE MOON I AM!! I was and still am an American Girl's Girl!!! Those dolls are what set my trajectory into being interested in historical fashion and sewing!!! I love your videos and I didn't know you watched Babbity Kate too!! This makes me so happy! American Girl did have a to line called Girls of Many Lands and one of the girls grows up in French court and the other is from Tudor England!!!!

[@acus]

American Midwesterner over here, my wife is a giant fan of American girl, still has her Samantha doll, and I can only describe her reaction as open mouth agog, absolutely stunning work, so so impressive. Thank you for sharing your passion with all of us

[@hopperwolf2]

My wife clapped with joy at each reveal. Thank you.

[@azdgariarada]

"You think a depressed person could make this?!?" -- Quote of the year right there! I laughed so hard at that, and continue to smile just thinking about it.

[@kirstenpaff8946]

As someone who grew up in the peak American Girl era, this episode brought me so much joy. Thank you! As for why more countries haven't ripped off the model, I think you need a fairly rare combination of a country that both glorifies its past enough that learning about it is seen as a positive thing and has enough disposable income to pay for all of the dolls and accessories. Even back in the 90s those dolls were going for something like $80. A lot of companies started selling cheaper items for "18 inch dolls", which was code for compatible with American Girl dolls, because the name brand product was so pricey.

[@summervan5917]

Man American girl dolls are now close to a couple hundred if I recall correctly!! ( haven’t bought one since 2016)

[@kirstenpaff8946]

@@summervan5917 The price increase hasn't actually been that bad. The basic starter dolls (doll, book, outfit, no accessories) are $125. The classic historical dolls with their meet outfit and accessories are $160. Still insanely expensive for a toy, but not completely insane when compared to the rate of inflation. The really crazy prices are on eBay where people are selling their old doll outfits from the 90s for $100 a piece.

[@fairygrove3928]

If you bought just the doll and her outfit, it was (I think) $95. It was just under $100. If you got the doll and accessory, it was around $115. I saved up my allowance for over a year in hopes of buying the Samantha doll. I stared at that price A LOT from the years 1994-1997. I was kind of amazed that they haven't gone up in price that much since then. They're only $160 for doll + accessories now. I'm sure the quality has gone down since the company was bought by Mattel, though. The focus over the years switched from the historical dolls to the "Create your own" dolls, which I find very sad.

[@gigglesmurf2004]

I have several dresses from markets that sold clothes and accessories for “18in” dolls. Still have Samantha and a trunk of her stuff.

[@mialemon6186]

My family had a good bit of disposable income and my mother still went 'oh hell no' to the idea of $120 doll lmao! I'm an adult now, and I make my own money, and it's well past time for a Felicity to live in my house.

[@kellyngrey4950]

I'm an Americanist historian (PhD) with my focus on the Market Revolution, Westward Expansion, Gilded Age, and Progressive Era. (Notice how I definitely don't refer to them as the Victorian Era.) I absolutely love your channel in general. But I absolutely appreciate this project! This is an amazing way to teach public history while also emphasizing the social history of women and girls! I will keep this video and your approach in mind when designing my next history course. Cheers!

[@Cynthia63636]

This is so incredibly interesting and fun to watch! This could 100% be a collab thing between dollmakers, story writers, clothes makers, historians.

[@GroinStrain_]

I love you. I could listen to your history lessons all day, all week. History that could be considered too far removed and hard to relate by some, you make it so palatable and funny and quirky. Thank you for having this channel and keeping us entertained and educated

[@greengrasse120]

About using pins to fasten clothes: they are also wearing stays/bodies/corsets! So the pins could actually go into the stays themselves for extra security and wouldn’t be as prone to coming undone since they’re on top of a fairly rigid structure.

[@mesina84]

This was absolutely Beautiful. The research, the time taken to the story, the delight and frustration in your eyes when talking about scaling clothes down to doll size and all the challenges in the making of Catherine. Just chefs kiss.🎉

[@sayhello5377]

My grandparents gave me a Kirsten doll for Christmas when I was 11. I’d wanted one for years, but my parents were too poor. Of course, by 6th grade, all the cool girls had moved on from dolls. But I looooved that doll and her books. I’d even sew other outfits for her because back then, there weren’t American girl stores or Etsy shops. Also loved Felicity and Molly!

[@mojacarflamenco6314]

As an American kid growing up in London, the nearest thing I saw to this was the Jackdaw collection, a series of folders contains facsimiles of historical documents associated with an historical event. There was no editing, no point of view - just a collection of source materials and the implied command to figure it out for yourself. There was a clear path from being a 12 year old with a Jackdaw to being a researcher at the British Museum. I loved it.

[@Saffron-sugar]

You’re an American kid who grew up in London and now still lives in London? Not that American then?

[@stephendick3611]

@@Saffron-sugar Not quite I came back to the States for college, encumbered with a set of British mannerisms that have done me no good in my home country.

[@FairLadySpiny]

Growing up, my sibling and I always looked forward to the catalogue that American Girl would send out every year around Christmas. They were always so magical. Like you said, there was SO much detail packed into these dolls and their accessories. While the books are lacking in some departments, they helped spark a fascination in history within me at a young age. I would go on to try and learn as much about many of the topics as possible. I grew up hearing stories from my grandfather about his parents living during the depression and AG was able to put that life into perspective for me when I was little. I really like that the books focus on ordinary people. It sort of shows that history is truly made with ordinary people doing ordinary things, not just people at the top politically.

[@pierremainstone-mitchell8290]

I'm a 74 yr old Aussie bloke and to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this video is the grossest of understatements! One of of your best Jenny! 🙃

[@amandagrayson389]

Thanks! You put so much time and effort into this, I felt you deserved a little payment.

[@KingPrincess1337]

I honestly think you should do the one from 1014, and not because it ironically lines up with the correct "4 at the end" nonsense, but because I would REALLY love to explore Viking London 😊🥰

[@jessicalee333]

Pleeeeeez make this a feature/series or revisit occasionally. You don't have to make doll clothes, but it would be fascinating to have long, or long-ish, or even long-short videos on the ordinary lives of children in different periods - especially if you can get a beautiful illustration for each one! It's such an underexplored niche, and there are so many parts of history that apply to London, that you can't see in American Girl stories. That's especially true since they only went back to the late 18th century, even though English colonists had been bringing their families to America for over a hundred years by then (and Spanish colonists longer, like in New Mexico, or Florida). I loved hearing your outline of what each book _would be_ if you wrote it, and you could do the same with the clothing and accessories rather than actually make them. I'm sure researching and editing an hour of video on the subject is a lot to do even without all the crafting, but it would be worth revisiting this in the future, even in shorter forms. Maybe the life of a Saxon child in 7th century Lundenwic is too boring for more than a minute and a half of video. Regardless, a "What Was Childhood Like..." series has legs.

[@lauraanne341]

This whole project is incredibly niche and wonderful and I'm so delighted to have watched it. Thank you.

[@elizabethtangora4353]

6:06 the thing about the years ending in 4, if I’m not wrong, was that originally the line started with just three dolls: Kirsten (1854), Samantha (1904), and Molly (1944). The idea was to show how incredibly different yet similar their lives were just half a century apart.

[@friarbuck640]

When my 19 year old niece was 6 I got her an American Doll for Christmas. The cool thing about it was that there was a dress that matched her American Doll’s dress that my niece could wear. If you had enough fabric you could make a matching dress for yourself.

[@sheleavitt06]

My mom took the left over fabric from making my dresses through out the year and made little doll clothes so I could match her😻

[@moonballoonsmith8238]

Fantastic! My daughters were a bit too old for dolls when AG showed up, but I was fascinated with the idea. Btw - As a 60-some yo, I keep my paper doll and paper toy collection a fairly closely guarded secret … Historical paper doll and paper toy designs.

[@bartonpaullevenson3427]

Dover Book reproductions?

[@sevenandthelittlestmew]

@@bartonpaullevenson3427Tom Tierney?

[@moonballoonsmith8238]

@moonballoonsmith8238 0 seconds ago Yes - Usborne also published a series of “cut out model villages”. eBay often has reproduction or original paper dolls and other paper toys. Newspapers in the US once published these type of paper toys. They showed up printed on cardboard cereal boxes. When I was a child books of paper dolls and cut out toys (‘build you own circus’) were really common - along with coloring books - a cheap ephemeral toy at the time.

[@imtheonewhobroughtthebeans915]

I just want people in the UK & Ireland to know that all these historical dolls had Best Friends who usually represented the experience of a girl of another class/religion/ethnicity/political affiliation/etc. So the only American Girl doll I ever had was bought for me by my grandparents (both of whom had parents born on the west coast of Ireland) to honor my heritage- her name was Nellie, and she was Samantha’s poor Irish Catholic *servant* 😭 and I think she was also illiterate or smth 🙃 and she was sickly from doing child labor in a factory 🥲 and she spends her free time raising her younger sibling 😵‍💫 so that was my childhood historical fantasy lol

[@kitssewingkit]

Nellie wasn't Samantha's servant! She was a servant to Samantha's neighbor and Samantha's friend, but eventually became Samantha's adopted sister! Samantha eventually went to live with her uncle and aunt, and they also adopted Nellie and her two younger sisters, so she had 3 sisters in total (and eventually a little brother, since the uncle and aunt have a baby boy in a later book.) Still definitely a bleak outlook at first, especially for a kid. but with a happy ending!

[@1234cheerful]

@@kitssewingkit Oh yes, the American Girl books would have had to have a happy or at least contented ending, not many sales for a book that told brutal truth and ended there. Not for girls anyway (these books do in a sense highlight the traditional female roles!) A famous and famously successful American mystery writer named Mickey Spillane said, "The first page of a book sells that book. The last page of the book sells the next book."

[@ManWhoLovesTheMary]

Not me once-and-for-all mending some of my [vintage] garments while watching J. Draper totally recreate doll-sized ones for a Shakespear Era "UK Girl." I remember seeing these books in their own section at my elementary school library in Southern California. As expected, I didn't venture to read any at the time, but now I have the insight I would have had if I did. Fitting that I've been getting into not just wearing vintage clothing, but making it as well.

[@mariecarie1]

25:29 lol the darker lighting and the pose is giving “My Little Newly-Turned-Zombie-Friend” vibes Seriously though, I can’t tell you how much joy this video brings me. I grew up with American Girl dolls and loved the attention to detail with their tiniest accessories (which we couldn’t afford, I left looking at in the magazines). For someone who did not grow up with them, you really seem to have captured the essence of these dolls and the stories they tell, and it re-awakened my old, childlike excitement and delight The American girl collection brought me. Thank you so much for making this video- your creativity is inspiring!

[@wherefancytakesme]

Sorry for another comment, but I just wanted to mention how much I love American Girl and that they laid the foundation for my love of fashion history. I share a name with one of them and hers became my favorite period. I would absolutely love to see this done with other countries and learn about their history this way. What's even crazier about American Girl stuff is, they even had life-size versions of some dresses so kids could match their dolls! And if you check online, some catalogues even had dress patterns for the dolls if you wanted to make their book outfits instead of buy them!

[@mellie4174]

Omg! Yes! I forgot about that!

[@erinchristman2669]

@@mellie4174 My grandma got me Samantha's velvet/plaid cape for Christmas one year. I lent it to a school production of A Christmas Carol or My Fair Lady or something....and it got mixed back in with the rented costumes. I never saw it again....sigh.

[@WitchOracle]

I had the Felicity night gown and night cap, I think? My guess is that set was a little more affordable than some of the more intricate human sized clothes they sold

[@KnightsAndNobles]

Wow, if dolls were like this when I was little I might have actually WANTED a doll! Thank you for another excellent video! I wouldn't have thought I would watch an hour vid about dolls this morning (but I didn't think that about railings either!) I think Catherine's big adventure should be the bakery catches fire and she runs to tell the watchman and gather local firefighters and helps tear down housing and contain the fire.

[@ruthspanos2532]

The dolls were really expensive, about $75, and that was without accessories.

[@KnightsAndNobles]

@@ruthspanos2532 ahh... well, I would have remained wanting then! No way my mum would have spent that.

[@causticgit]

Bucket brigade would be a fascinating summer adventure. (Maybe she has to help save the theater!) Were kids her age expected to help with those? Maybe she's considered too small/weak/slow and pushed out of line, leaving her the only one not exhausted when the fire starts back up long after they thought it was out.

[@TakedaIesyu]

I'm really glad to see you do long-form content! I discovered you through your shorts, which are great, but the long-form content really gives my brain something to sink my teeth into!!

[@annapoteet2483]

I love the time and energy you put into creating this. I would absolutely sit through another hour listening to Catherine’s adventures.

[@stephenbride1308]

This might be the best thing you've done (at least that I've seen). There is clear love for the original American girl books, wonderful ideas that would get a child interested in history. I adore the effort and sheer nonsense quality of the outfits and props. Laughed for far too long at the miniature Calvin's Catechism. Bravo. Superb work.