Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) that appeared in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children.

[4] Gruelle biographer and Raggedy Ann historian Patricia Hall notes that the dolls have "found themselves at the center of several legend cycles—groups of stories that, while containing kernels of truth, are more myth than they are history.

What makes this even more intriguing is that fact that Johnny Gruelle, either unwittingly or with the great sense of humor he was known for, initiated many of these legends, a number of which are continuously repeated as the factual history of Raggedy Ann and Andy.

Hall says the date of this supposed occurrence is given as early as 1900 and as late as 1914, with the locale variously given as suburban Indianapolis, Indiana, downtown Cleveland, Ohio, or rural Connecticut.

[6] More likely, as Gruelle's wife Myrtle reported, it was her husband who retrieved a long-forgotten, homemade rag doll from the attic of his parents' Indianapolis home sometime around the turn of the twentieth century before the couple's daughter was born.

[9] Raggedy Ann Stories (1918), written and illustrated by Johnny Gruelle and published by the P. F. Volland Company, was the first in a series of books about his cloth doll character and her friends.

[12] Although the female members of Gruelle's family may have made a small number of initial versions of the Raggedy Ann doll in Norwalk, Connecticut, to help market the related books, Gruelle soon established a merchandising agreement with P. F. Volland Company, his primary publisher, to begin commercially manufacturing, selling, and promoting a mass-produced version of the doll.

A short time after its literary debut in 1920, Raggedy Andy appeared as a commercially made doll, marketed by Volland.

These works included "Raggedy Ann's Sunny Songs" (1930) which was set to music by former U. S. Treasury Secretary William H.

[28] The Raggedy Ann doll was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York, on March 27, 2002.

[30] A collection of twenty books published by Lynx, with each story containing a lesson, such as maintaining friendship when someone moves away or why parents must go to work.

Many subsequent adaptations of the Raggedy Ann and Andy books have been published, in addition to the characters appearing in other media formats.

Although the female members of Gruelle's family may have originally handmade a few of the versions of the Raggedy Ann doll in Norwalk, Connecticut, to help market the related books, Gruelle soon established a merchandising agreement with P. F. Volland Company, the primary publisher of his books, to manufacture, sell, and promote a mass-produced, commercial version of the Raggedy Ann doll.

[citation needed] By the late 1920s Volland's orders for Raggedy Ann dolls from its manufacturer had reached 4,000 per month.

[96] When Volland ceased operations during the Great Depression it had already sold more than 150,000 dolls and nearly 2 million Raggedy Ann books.