| History |

The Raggedy Ann musical had a small cult following decades before RARE existed. Interest sparked in 1991 when it was mentioned in Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum, and several enthusiasts of Broadway curiosities have discovered it through the book. Seasoned internet archivists Garrett Gilchrist and Vinnie Rattolle spent some time on the project, with previously unpublished demo tracks being uploaded to Vinnie's channel in 2013. Ivy Austin, an original Raggedy Ann cast member who played Ann herself, uploaded A 1986 documentary titled Rag Dolly In The USSR that same year, giving the wider internet their first glimpse of the forgotten work.

Soon, other fans began searching as well. Such as Mckenah Rose, who began doing her own research and made early contact with members of the original cast. Mckenah, Garrett, and Vinnie are all still a part of the revival effort to this day.

In 2018, the channel Rag Dolly uploaded a full audio-only Broadway bootleg which had been circulating in collector's communities. As interest increased, other fans discovered a script avaliable for request from a New York archive, but it seemed as more people requested they began to tighten their grip on the material.

In 2019, media reviewer Colin LooksBack relased the video Looking Back on the Raggedy Ann Musical (On Screen and Stage), and soon after another video was posted by Zapzipap C. going over the script mentioned above. Many early members of RARE. can attribute their involvement due to these two videos alone!

RARE. began officially in Feburary of 2021, when our founder Gwyn discovered the Colin LooksBack video while ignoring her online classes. We have since grown to over 300 members and thousands of followers across various platforms, led by a close circle of a couple dozen dedicated organizers, researchers, writers, and actors who have helped get this movement where it is now.