The American Girls Club

This article is about the mail-in in club started in 1996. For the paid 2004 club including online activities and related doll items, see American Girl Club (2004).

The American Girls Club (initially The American Girls Club and Historical Society) is a club that existed from 1996 to 1999. The club motto was Look to the past - learn for the future.

The club was initially limited to the newspaper, the Pleasant Times in 1993, a newspaper-style publication.

The released membership kit was designed initially to study the eras and worlds of the Historical Characters as well as connect to others. In 1997 the membership changed to more promote connections between young people interested in American Girl, in part through through pen pals (and later, online connections at the website).

The American Girls Club and Historical Society

The original iteration of the club focused on characters-themed activities that members could use to become American Girls Historians.

Contents

The 1996 membership kit came in a portfolio style folder with a maroon faux-marbled cover, ribbon closure, and space to store components. This edition of the portfolio had a logo of a silhouette of a girl reading. The set cost $19.95 and included:

• Membership Card: Motto on back, with space on front for member's name and date of membership.
• Charm Bracelet: Included a charm of the club logo.
• American Girl Club Handbook: A 94-page book that had essays about the characters and five activities to do for each. It included the cards to mail in for the seals and certificate in the back.
• Mentor's Guide: Guidebook for an adult or teenage mentor of the member. Explained how to run a club and the qualifications for members.
• American Girls Wardrobe Flip-Book: Showed the five characters (as dolls) with cropped pages of various outfits from their collection and information on clothing of the day; when pages were flipped, they appeared to be shown on the doll. Pages were included for participants to design additional character dresses, as well as space for their own wardrobe to include themselves in history and their own accessories alongside the character's (similar to the American Girl of Today line).
• Reading Journals: Five in total, one for each historical character; books had two-page spread of discussion questions and puzzle-like activities based on the character's books.
• Pastport: a passport-like book with spaces for character seals as members completed each activity. The first page was where members filled in their name, location (city and state), the year, signature, and the current president, which matched information on the character pages. Displays of the American flag at the era were on each page.
• Club Poster: Displayed the characters as portrayed on the Read Posters. Approximately 14 7/8" x 19 7/8"
• Introductory, unique premiere issue of the Pleasant Times. Six active issues would be sent to members over the course of the year.

Charms resembling meet book covers of the five characters could be ordered separately with an included form for $5 each or a five-character charm set for $20. Bracelet was nickle-plated brass; charms were silver-pewter.

The Pleasant Times was released bi-monthly starting in February and functioned as an insider newsletter. Members were encouraged to send in information for finding a pen pal or personal submissions for the newspaper such as personal stories, art, poems, or photos.

Steps to Qualify as a Historian

The club handbook and mentor's guide listed the steps for members to become historians. Members could work individually, as a small group, or as a larger meeting group (e.g. scouting, after-school, or church groups) to certify as an American Girls Historian.

To qualify as a historian, the following steps were to be completed:

• Members were to first read all six of a character's Central Series books and complete the accompanying Reading Journal. The journals contained comprehension questions and activities such as drawing a picture or filling out a puzzle.
• After filling in each journal, members were to turn to the character in the handbook and complete four out of five project options listed for each historical character in the handbook. Members could also substitute a sixth project or activity from the American Girls Pastimes/Portfolios of Pastimes books for each character (minus the Paper Dolls). The Club Handbook included extensive information for each project as well as short articles on the historical context of each character.
• When the journals and projects were finished for a particular character and presented to the mentor (an adult assistant), a postcard in the back of the handbook could be filled out and sent into the club address in Middleton. The postcard included a place for the member's signature, the mentor's signature, and the member's address. The member would receive a free set of seals to put on the pages of the Pastport. These seals had images of the projects for each character.
• When all seals were filled in for all five characters on the Pastport, the member could fill out the Historian Qualification Card postcard in the handbook. This again had space for the member's signature, the mentor's signature, and the mentor's address.
• Members would then receive a free Historian's Certificate and a Historian's Charm to add to their charm bracelet; the charm was an open book with crossed quill pens and the text American Girls Historian.

Postcards contained a disclaimer that seals and/or charms could take up to four weeks for delivery.

The American Girls Club

The club was rebranded as simply The American Girls Club by later in 1996 (at least by the holiday). The set cost $19.95; a baseball cap could be added with a cost of '$24.95. These later editions had on the cover portrait images of the characters with space for the member to write their name on front and the logo moved to the spine.

Initial club membership in 1996 included all the components of the previous club, but no longer had the Historical Society or its goals, which were phased out due to lack of interest; there was no information or cards to mail in (or any seals, a certificate, or a charm). One merely completed the Pastport checklists on their own. The membership still suggested help with a mentor. Club members had until December 31, 1998 to mail in cards to receive seals, a certificate, or charm.

New items were included at Josefina's release in a Special Release set in 1997:

• "Just For Fun" Booklet: Came with additional activities for the characters.
• Picture Frame Kit: Accordion-folded picture frame and items to assemble. Space was included for Josefina to be added, as well as the member as a Girl of Today.
• Logo Sticker
• Josefina Character Guide: A separate updated character guide included Josefina at her release, along with further club activities; it did not contain any of the additional Historian components other than to design an outfit within the pages. This section was later integrated into the updated handbook.

Josefina's character charm was also added for purchase.

By Winter 1997, the club no longer focused on interacting with the books. A one-year membership had a retail cost of $9.95 and included the following:

• Handbook: The 128-page club handbook, now with Josefina's chapter and the club extras added. There were no checklists or mentions of goals for the removed historian accomplishment.
• Six bi-monthly issues of The American Girl News, the rebranded version of The Pleasant Times. The introductory issue came with membership and was later updated to include Josefina.
• Membership Card
• Baseball Cap

The club lasted until at least Winter 1998 and partially into 1999.