Raggedy Ann: A Perpetual Quest, Volume 1

About The Book

The exact details of the origins of the Raggedy Ann doll and related stories, which were created by Johnny Gruelle (an American Writer), are not specifically known. One myth is that Marcella (Johnny’s daughter who died of an infected vaccination) found a doll in the attic and had her grandmother sew a shoe button on for a missing eye. James Whitcomb Riley, a friend of Johnny’s, wrote two poems called “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphant Annie”. Johnny combined the two titles to create a name for the doll. He based his stories on the interactions Marcella had with her dolls while playing with them.

These volumes are picture guides for Raggedy collectors to see what else is out there that they don’t have. I did not include prices because there is no authority that sets a price. It’s what you want to pay or what the seller is asking. I did my best to provide the sharpest pictures possible. However, at the time of this writing, I am not able to re-photograph examples.

Having a massive collection (as Douglas calls it) is rewarding but I didn’t realize the toil that would be necessary to construct a book. Trying to fit all the items into one volume was not feasible for the publisher so it was suggested I put the collection into several volumes.

www.raggedyrenee.com

About The Author

Serious collecting of Raggedy Ann and Andy memorabilia did not start until 1985; the year I graduated college and met my husband, Brian. However, I received my first Raggedy Ann doll, a Knickerbocker, for Christmas in 1971, four days shy of my sixth birthday. For Christmas 1972 two Andies came to our house. One was for me and the other one was for my older brother. My brother was not interested in his Andy so I inherited him and I still have both along with my first Raggedy Ann. People have asked “why Raggedy Ann and Andy?”, and I don’t have an answer. They just appeal to me.

In 1989 I attended a doll show and purchased Susan Garrison’s book The Raggedy Ann and Andy Family Album. After reading her book and noticing the picture captions “from the collection of…” I knew there were more people interested in Raggedy Ann and Andy because the pictures were of items I had never seen. I went to the library to do research on Raggedy Ann (this is before the worldwide web) but only found one article in Doll Reader magazine, which stated there was a RAGS newsletter. This newsletter was started in 1988 by a woman in Georgia named Barbara Barth. I was able to contact her and she set me up with a subscription. I also obtained back issues from which I learned about an annual Raggedy Ann and Andy Festival held in Arcola, Illinois, the first one taking place in 1987.