Raggedy Ann
It's from 1915, before you were born.
- Maker
- Johnny Gruelle / various
- Type
- Rag doll
- Debuted
- 1915
- Note
- Came with a painted candy heart reading 'I Love You'
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About
As of 2026, it's 111 years old.
Raggedy Ann debuted in 1915, a floppy rag doll with yarn-red hair, a triangle nose, and striped stockings, created by illustrator Johnny Gruelle and tied to a series of beloved storybooks. Many vintage versions hid a little painted tin heart inside the chest reading 'I Love You.'
She's wrapped in a poignant origin legend — that Gruelle made her for his young daughter — and became a comforting fixture of American childhoods for generations, joined later by her brother Raggedy Andy.
Soft, simple, and quietly sentimental, Raggedy Ann is the hand-me-down doll that's been hugged threadbare in nurseries for over a century.
