Object IDs:
Classic Nellie doll | 2009 | American Girl, LLC., U.S. | Object ID: 1904ND03
Classic Nellie’s Meet Accessories | 2009 | American Girl, LLC., U.S. | Object ID: 1904NA04
Meet Nellie
Meet Nellie O’Malley, a kind, practical and hardworking girl living in New York in 1905. Though Nellie and her two sisters are Irish-American born in America, her parents are Irish immigrants. Nellie first meets Samantha, as a housemaid for her neighbors, the Ryland’s. Nellie and Samantha become best friends and Samantha helps Nellie read and write.
However, Nellie and her sister's world goes upside down: they lose their parents to the flu, are abandoned by their uncle and are sent to an orphanage where they are almost split up. With Samantha’s help, Nellie and her sisters are now living with Samantha's family in New York City. Samantha’s Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia want to adopt all three sisters. Nellie is pleased as this will allow her to keep her promise she made to her dying mother to protect her little sisters.
But when the girl's uncle shows up and threatens to take Nellie and her sisters back and ruin everything, Nellie is determined to not let it happen. However, she discovers that her friendship with Samantha has been affected by her uncle's threat. Is there a way to keep her promise and save everything she loves the most?
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Introduced to children in 2004 as Samantha's best friend, Nellie O’Malley and her story represent the working-class immigrant experience and the conditions children faced in the workforce during the early America Progressive Era. Her stories take place in the fictional town of Mount Bedford, New York and New York City in 1906.
Renowned author Valerie Tripp wrote Nellie's story. A movie about Samantha was released in 2004 starring Kelsey Lewis as Nellie. Nellie and her entire collection were archived in 2009 when Samantha was archived.