American Girl Stationery Sets
American Girl Stationery Sets were stationery sets based on the first seven Historical Characters. These were released initially in 1996 and retired by 2002, prior to a set being released for Kaya'aton'my. Cost per set was $9.95.
Overview
Each set came in a burgundy cardstock box. Covers of the packages were based on the Read poster images each character had been given, with the character's personal colored silhouette centered at top. Packages were shrink-wrapped and could be purchased from the company or through third-party sellers such as book stores. The interior of the box has a cardstock spacer at purchase to prevent papers sliding around. A catalog request card was also included.
Kit's (and all prior characters) were marked as American Girl rather than Pleasant Company after 2000, as Mattel now owned the company.
Contents and Descriptions
Contents included:
- Twenty unlined stationery sheets
- Lined guide
- Twenty Envelopes
- Five Note Cards (sometimes called Greeting Cards in catalogs)
- Two Sticker Sheets
- One Informational Booklet
Specific Descriptions
- Stationery Papers : Images on stationery sheets, envelopes, and note cards match the Read Poster image. The sheets have the image at the top, with a parchment cream border and lighter cream open area for writing. Envelopes are parchment print, have image on upper left (so stamps may be placed in upper right) and wet-glue closure. Note cards come unfolded with parchment backgrounds and white interiors; they also state the illustrator of the poster/"read" image. Three note cards are portrait full images, and two are landscape closeups.
- Lined Guide: this is a white paper guide the size of the stationery papers with black lines. It's is intended to be placed behind the blank sheets and cards to guide writing on sheets in neat lines.
- Sticker Sheets: One sheet had circular stickers which included: cropped illustrations of the Central Series covers (two for each cover, for twelve total); colored silhouette stickers (twelve each); dingbat logo on white background (six each) for a total of thirty stickers. The second sheet contained rectangular parchment framed illustrations from the central series as well as the read poster image; images were repeated. There were eight large illustrations with read poster (two each total sixteen), and three of the images and the read image in small; this made for a total of twenty.
- Informational Booklet: This also has the Read poster image, with the title Notes from [Year] and the character name. The tri-folded booklet when opened has an image of a sample letter from the character in her handwriting. The interior discusses information about writing and letters sending in the character's era. The back of the booklet adds smaller trivia facts. For example, Molly's booklet has a letter she has written to Dad about her and Emily Bennett sharing a birthday party and receiving their puppies Yank and Bennett. The interior discusses: how families, students, and children sent letters to soldiers stationed overseas; how this was considered a patriotic duty; that soldiers often carried the letters until they were too worn to read; articles on how to write cheerful, upbeat letters so soldiers would not worry; that the Post office worked hard to deliver mail quickly and safely; and that V-mail was a way to send large amounts of mail via photography. Fun facts include that letters were censored by the military to prevent interception of information from enemy forces; that because people knew this, they only wrote on one side of the page to prevent spoiling the other side; and how some families developed special codes to communicate in lieu of specific information.
List of American Girl Stationery Sets
- Felicity's Stationery Set
- Josefina's Stationery Set
- Kirsten's Stationery Set
- Addy's Stationery Set
- Samantha's Stationery Set
- Kit's Stationery Set
- Molly's Stationery Set