Pleasant Company
Pleasant Company was an American company founded in Madison, Wisconsin in 1986 by Pleasant Rowland.
A former teacher and writer of children’s textbooks, Rowland founded Pleasant Company alongside the launch of the original three American Girl dolls: Kirsten Larson, Molly McIntire and Samantha Parkington. These high-end dolls would be sold initially through mail-order catalogs, and each would come with a book reflecting the character’s historical period. In the coming years, the book series for each character would expand and by 1991 they would begin adding new characters to the line. Pleasant Company would launch an accompanying magazine for American Girl in 1992, followed by the companion lines Bitty Baby and American Girl of Today in 1995.
The company was purchased by Mattel in 1998 for $700 million, and would cease to exist as a standalone company. Rowland would become Mattel’s vice chairman of the board that same year, before her retirement in 2000. American Girl has continued to release new products under Mattel.
List of Doll Lines Made by Pleasant Company
