my girls have a bunch of these dolls. xsteen’s first American girl doll was Addie, the African American one, from slave times. we bought it at the st james silent auction when she was in K. Pleasant Company was the original maker and marketer of the dolls. Yes, they were expensive, but the attraction was the historical story they told along with the period appropriate accessories etc. Mattel bought them out and went more mass marketing with DOLLS THAT LOOK LIKE ME type crap. That was never the point of them. They had Kristin, Molly, Kaya, Addie, Kit and Josefina, and a complete set of the books for each. I was a total sucker for that stuff bc I would have LOVED it when I was a kid. They lost their vision I think and started making too many of them and without any real HISTORY behind them. I think they eventually had some hippy doll from the 60s. That was just stupid!
I did not know that Mattel had purchased them. You are right though - I bought a bunch of the accessories too - and even bought a pattern and made some of the period dresses.