Meet Leah Jenkins, Assistant Researcher

Meet Leah Jenkins, a recent graduate of Dalhousie University. Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Leah earned an Honours in History and a minor in Film Studies. Her academic career culminated with her 90-page thesis of pure American Girl discourse.

In Celebration of Girls: Girlhood, History, and Identity in American Girl, she focused on how commercialized girl power, neoliberalism and American history coalesced to create the American Girl Historical Character dolls we know and love. Through the eyes of American Girl character Felicity Merriman, Leah observed both twenty-first and eighteenth-century history and their reflections on contemporary girlhood.

The nearly eight-month project was an unbelievable opportunity that allowed Leah the opportunity to volunteer at the Changnon Family Museum of Toys and Collectables as an assistant researcher. Leah was instrumental in working with the museum to research the historical reality of Addy’s world in their third virtual exhibit, Addy Walker: Why She Matters.

Make sure to check out Leah’s thesis, In Celebration of Girls: Girlhood, History, and Identity in American Girl, by clicking here.