historical character lover @candlelightforrebecca - Tumblr Blog

my little intro post

hii u can call me Syd or Lior ❤️❤️ I’m 25 and nonbinary (they/them) and I love history & historical fiction & AG was my introduction to those passions!!! now I’m getting into (small scale) collecting, I’m also learning to sew and hoping to make some outfits for my dolls which I will be documenting here

my main is @revolutionaryletters and that’s where I follow from

I have Claudie and Rebecca (both acquired as an adult) and my beloved childhood Kaya - they’re tagged #my dolls if you want to see them !!

the way I would kill for the ag rock climbing outfit from 2003

agmagazinescans

Paper Doll: Christy Nock

American Girl Magazine, March/April 1996

[Ko-Fi Donations]

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Looking Back: Friends Forever

American Girl Magazine, May/June 1994

[Ko-Fi Donations]

agmagazinescans

Looking Back: Josefina's Home

American Girl Magazine, September/October 1997 [pending IA link]

[Ko-Fi Donations]

#josefina montoya

in-pleasant-company

Kaya’aton’my

American Girl: Historical Inspirations

1. Sheepskin dress, Nez Perce National Historic Park

2. Bag, National Museum of the American Indian

3. Cornhusk bag, Nez Perce National Historic Park

4. c. 1880, Deer hide dress, Nez Perce National Historic Park

5. Nez Perce woman named Mary Parsons with child, University of Washington

omgthatdress

Huge shoutout to the work that @in-pleasant-company does researching the historical inspiration for the dolls. Love seeing what she found for Kaya.

#kaya'aton'my

omgthatdress

Rebecca Rubin is the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants living in New York City in 1914. So instead of being infuriated by the lack of extant children’s fashion from the 1900s, I can be infuriated by the lack of extant children’s fashion in the 1910s!

Fashion eras actually rarely fit tidily into decades. In the 1910s, you have the Titanic period from roughly 1908-1914, which is very elegant and still very Victorian, and then the WW1 proto-flapper era from 1914-1922, which is much more modern. Looking at the fashion of 1914, you can see the change happening. It’s actually a pretty radical era in fashion, and really interesting to see.

Rebecca’s fashion tends to lean more towards the modern, probably to help give her some separation from Samantha’s collection. Honestly Rebecca is probably my favorite of the modern collections (although that may change with Claudie).

Her original meet dress fits the fashion of 1914 pretty well.

Her brooch is Russian lacquer folk art depicting a rabbit. In the story, it’s a reference to Rebecca’s favorite Russian folk tale, the story of Clever Karina.

(Etsy)

The shawl is a traditional Russian pavlovo posad shawl, a treasured family heirloom.

I haven’t been able to find antique examples of Russian folk crafts, and I also haven’t been able to find anything in English about the history of Russian lacquer and shawls. So I can’t say much, but they are very pretty!

It might seem kind of surprising to us Goyim seeing so much Russian folk art on a character whose parents fled pogroms in Russia. Recently, I visited a local Jewish cemetery where some Russian-Jewish immigrants from Rebecca’s era are buried (there’s actually a really long and interesting history of Jews living in Florida and the rest of the south!), and I was very very suprised to see a few Russian imperial eagles, a symbol of the Tsar. I asked a Jewish aunt-by-marriage, and she said that even if you fled under persecution, you still missed your home. So I like seeing all that complicated identity of being Russian and Jewish and American being brought up in Rebecca. Good going, AG!

#rebecca rubin

lovemarisolluna

Welcome, Lindsey!

Lindsey Bergman is finally here, and I've spent all summer crafting and creating things for her.

Lindsey's American Girl doll, Caitie

Caitie is a custom American Girl Today mini doll #7 with soft brown hair and blue eyes. I used a soft body Molly mini doll and painted her blue eyes! I sewed her 1998 Play Outfit by hand from fabric scraps. I plan to sew her a mini First Day meet outfit.

Lindsey's Girl Scout uniform

Lindsey wears the Girl Scout Junior sweatshirt and floral leggings. This doll sized outfit was made by Dolls Delight and sold in the Girl Scout catalogs. My sweatshirt was missing the decal, so I printed the logo on transfer paper and ironed it to the sweatshirt. I also plan to make her a uniform sash with badges.

Lindsey's Girl Scout Patch Book

Lindsey's Girl Scout patch book holds some of her favorite fun activity patches! Inside are her My Mom's a GS Leader, Girl Scout Sabbath, Happy Birthday and Camping GSUSA patches.

Girl Scout Cookie Boxes

Lindsey loves selling Girl Scout cookies! Two boxes of Tagalog cookies, and one box each of Aloha Chip and All Abouts. These mini boxes were printed from period accurate box designs.

Backpack and Supplies

Lindsey's silver and blue metallic messenger bag is stuffed with school supplies. I made her a Trapper Keeper, two folders stuffed with worksheets, a planner, and diary (styled after Amelia's Notebooks). Lindsey's bead lizard keychain is her favorite colors.

#lindsey bergman #this is so awesome op!!