Women have always played baseball, especially in the Midwest. The history of women’s baseball dates back to the 1800s, when women had little opportunities to play organized baseball.

Anna Sielaff is part of Illinois Humanities 2026-27 Road Scholars Speakers Bureau and will present this program at the Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society’s February meeting at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8. This special presentation is also sponsored by the Sterling Public Library.

Sielaff offers an exciting opportunity to explore how Illinois played a significant role in the formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

She will trace the evolution of women’s baseball from its 19th-century beginnings to the establishment of the league in 1943. Learn how the league’s unique rules developed over time and the teams that made history –particularly the Illinois teams: the Rockford Peaches, Springfield Sallies, Peoria Redwings and Chicago Colleens.

The presentation will also cover topics such as the players’ uniforms, “Charm School” and the league’s innovative publicity and promotional efforts that helped bring women’s baseball into the national spotlight during World War II.

Sielaff serves as the Local History Librarian for the Lincoln Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection in Springfield. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Concordia University Chicago and a master of science in library and information sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The meeting is at the Lincoln Learning Center, 611 E. Third St., Sterling.