RAGGEDY ANN TURNS 100

 

HOW RAGGEDY ANN WAS BORN

Raggedy Ann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Raggedy Ann meets Raggedy Andy for the first time; illustrated by Johnny Gruelle

First appearance
Raggedy Ann Stories

Created by
Johnny Gruelle

Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and has a triangle nose. Johnny Gruelle received US Patent D47789 for his Raggedy Ann doll on September 7, 1915. The character was created in 1915 as a doll, and was introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories. When a doll was marketed with the book, the concept had great success. A sequel, Raggedy Andy Stories (1920), introduced the character of her brother, Raggedy Andy, dressed in sailor suit and hat.

Gruelle created Raggedy Ann for his daughter, Marcella, when she brought him an old hand-made rag doll and he drew a face on it. From his bookshelf, he pulled a book of poems by James Whitcomb Riley, and combined the names of two poems, "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphant Annie". He said, "Why don't we call her Raggedy Ann?"^[1]

Marcella later died of what Gruelle believed to be a side effect of the smallpox vaccine she had received without his permission. Raggedy Ann has since been a symbol of the anti-vaccination movement.

more on Raggedy Ann here

 http://www.victoriana.com/antiquedolls/raggedyann.htm