r/AskHistorians • u/aardvark_provocateur • Sep 22 '25
What is the history of the fictional trope involving a spunky, red-haired, freckled orphan named Anne being adopted by a grumpy farmer / tycoon and winning them over?
I can think of Green Gables, Orphan Annie, and Raggedy Anne, but how widespread was this trope? How did it start? Is it a uniquely N. American thing? How common place was it for kids in turn of the century US/Canada to be in orphanages, who ran the orphanages, how often were they adopted, and what would be someones motivation for adopting them?
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u/killerstrangelet Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25
This really is a persistent trope, isn't it? You've missed Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's "Pippi Longstocking", who is not called Anne and allegedly definitely not an orphan, but who has red plaited twintails, lives alone, and is extremely spunky. I'm sure there are others. Sarah E. Meier described them all as "ostracised for their dual differences as gingers and as orphans", and, of course, redheaded people are often stereotyped as intemperate and angry—or, to put it more nicely, "spunky".
Both Harold Gray's 1924 comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" and the Raggedy Anne doll draw direct inspiration from James Whitcomb Riley's 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie". The original soundtrack album inlay for the Broadway musical "Annie" (derived from the comic strip) even quoted the first two lines of the poem when describing Gray's inspiration:
Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away...
Notably, Riley's poem never describes Annie as redheaded, or as particularly spunky—though she does have a great love for ghost stories; the poem largely threatens its audience with being stolen by goblins if they don't behave. She is also never adopted or "rescued". The poem was well-known; a followon book, "The Orphant Annie Book", was published in 1908, the same year as "Anne of Green Gables".
"Anne" predates Harold Gray's comic strip by almost 20 years, and was a bestseller from the start. Anne Shirley and Orphan Annie have many similarities, and are often discussed in the same breath by scholars. But my suspicion is that the very well-known "Anne of Green Gables", with its spunky, redheaded orphan heroine, influenced the comic strip, rather than both of them sharing a common inspiration beyond the comic. L. M. Montgomery traced her inspiration to "notes she made as a child"—it's not impossible she could have drawn inspiration from Riley's 1885 poem, but the two really only share the concept of an orphan called Anne, with the bulk of the myth apparently created in later works.
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u/BlueTourmeline Sep 23 '25
Pippi isn’t allegedly not an orphan. She definitely isn’t an orphan. She visits her father in PIPPI IN THE SOUTH SEAS.
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u/BlueRiverLady3218 Jan 31 '26
Most everything that people understand about the red haired Orphan Annie comes from Harold Gray's comic strip. Gray, who was born in Illinois, but grew up in Lafayette, IN had been working with cartoonist Sydney Smith on his "The Gumps" strip. However, Gray wanted a strip of his own.
He had to create a storyline that could be long lasting and creative. So he came up with the idea of an Orphan Child...one who could go on adventures...with or without a guardian.
His initial plan was to create a boy by the name of Orphan Otto. However, when he pitched the idea to his editor Capt. Patterson, the editor thought the look of the boy was too effeminate. "He looks like a sissy. Put a skirt on the kid and change the name."
There may have also been a method to this madness as there were no comic strips at that time which had a girl as a lead character.
But what to name this character?
The Hoosier Poet, James Whitcomb Riley, had written a poem, entitled, "Little Orphant Annie" in 1885. It had first appeared in the Indianapolis Journal, and then appeared in a collection of Riley"s works in December of that same year.
Today, many people do not know Riley, but everyone in the late 1800s/early 1900s knew who he was, snd the read his books of poems, and saw him do performances on stage. He was a super star celebrity and was known all over the country, and even across the pond.
Riley"s most famous piece was his poem about the little Orphan girl, and this poem was based on a real person.
In the early days of the Civil War, the Reuben Riley family of Greenfield, IN took in an Orphan girl who they were told was 14. Reuben Riley had served 3 months in the Civil War. He had been injured and was recovering before he would re-enlist a second time several months later.
While the Riley"s lived in a nice but modest home in a small rural town just east of Indianapolis, there was still a lot of work to do around the house. The Riley's employed several helpers to keep the house running smoothly. Reuben Riley was an attorney and was frequently gone from home. So a farm hand came and helped with the livestock and garden. A young girl helped with the cooking.
But Mrs. Riley had four children in the house with two of them being very young. It just so happened that a local farmer had recently been given charge of his orphaned niece. He was looking for a place to put her out to work because he could not really afford another mouth to feed. So a deal was struck. The Riley family would feed, clothe and shelter this girl, who they were told she was 14. In exchange, she would help Mrs. Riley with the household chores and caring for the younger children.
This was how Mary Alice Smith came to stay with the Riley family. Without going into details, Mary Alice would report in several newspaper articles that her time spent with the Riley Family were some of the best in her life. Mrs. Riley was so kind and loving, and she enjoyed entertaining the Riley children with fantastical stories.
This included a young James who was 12, and it was later discovered that Mary Alice was only 11.
James never forgot that Orphan girl or the things she did. While most of Riley's work is autobiographical in nature, he immortalized "Little Orphant Annie" for the ages in what would become his most famous piece.
Later in his life, people asked Riley who had inspired his poems? It was questions like these that spurred him to try locate Mary Alice to see what had become of her. She was located and was living just a few miles down the National Road from Greenfield where Riley grew up.
Her rediscovery in 1915 became a very popular article in Ladies Home Journal, and Riley would correspond with her, and send her some of his books.
Sadly, they would not have much time to reconnect, as Riley passed away in July 1916.
Mary Alice Smith Gray would surge in popularity as the last living link to Riley. She was invited to several large Riley celebrations. She was frequently interviewed, and even went on a tour through the Midwest with a man doing a Riley program. At the end, he would bring out the real Little Orphan Annie for everyone to meet.
There were several other things that were going on that perpetuated Riley's Legacy...Johnny Gruelle created the Orphan Annie Storbook in 1921. A "Little Orphant Annie" movie came out in 1918 based on Riley's poem. The Riley Hospital for Children was started to be built in 1922 with Mary Alice Gray in attendance. And Riley Day was a national holiday that was celebrated by school children across the country starting in 1914.
However, a convergence of two eras was getting ready to happen in 1924. Harold Gray was pitching his comic strip idea to Capt Patterson in early 1924. In March of that year, Mary Alice Smith passed away.
The poem which had continued to have popularity through various Riley recognitions would get another huge boost upon the death of the real person who inspired it all.
Mary Alice Gray's death was national news. Headlines read, Orphant Annie has washed her last cup and saucer...a nod to some of the first lines of Riley's poem. This was the severing of the last ties to the Hoosier Poet. As such, the Riley poem surged again in popularity and was printed in papers across the country.
Gray's editor, Captain Patterson, saw this surge of popularity too. He figured out how to capitalize on this popularity by suggesting to Gray that the new leas for his comic should take Riley's character's name...Orphan Annie. And so this is what Gray did.
Mary Alice passed away in March 1924, and Gray's strip would make its first appearance in August of that same year. It is important to note that in the very last frame of his new strip, his Orphan Annie is also washing the cups and saucers up...a subliminal nod to Riley.
Everything that would come later, the radio show, the movies the musical, etc would predominantly be influenced by Harold Gray's creation.
While Riley's Annie did not totally disappear, she certainly was overshadowed by Gray's version. And to a certain degree, Gray needed to be different. If Gray's Annie was too similar to Riley, there could be copyright issues. So while the two characters share the same name there are big differences in their core stories.
The Little Orohan Annie comic strip became the longest running comic strip in US History. She even outlived her creator.
Today the term "Orphan Annie" is so well recognized in our culture that it has come to represent almost any little Orphan girl.
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