Originally appearing in the form of magazine illustrations between 1905 and 1909, Kewpie dolls made their appearance in 1913 in a design patented by Rose Cecil O'Neill (1874–1944). During O'Neill's lifetime, the dolls were a popular novelty item, often associated with carnivals and country fairs, where they were given as prizes. The Kewpie doll is one of the earliest and most successful examples of a mass-marketed toy. It has since become a sought-after collectable and an enduring symbol of "cuteness."

O'Neill's earliest versions of the Kewpies began appearing in the pages of the Ladies' Home Journal between 1905 and 1909 and took the Kewpie name in 1909. In 1910, O'Neill moved her characters to the Women's Home Companion. Three years later, she designed a babylike doll with its characteristic rotund shape and plume of wispy hair. The doll became an instant sensation and its sales made O'Neill a millionaire within a year. Just as...