Edited at first by a Boston schoolmaster, Phineas Adams, the Monthly anthology published material from European magazines along with some original book reviews, sermons, and verse. Original material increased when Rev. William Emerson became editor; there was a poetry department, some tales, a "periodical essays" series, and a number of other series, including "The botanist", "Biographia americana", and "The theologist", in addition to popular medicinal information, extracts from many books, state papers, news, and a catalog of new publications. In 1805 the Anthology Society took over the magazine, but it changed very little. It gave much attention to classical literature, and published letters from Europe by John Lowell and Alexander H. Everett.