The Anthology Society began as a weekly-meeting club with the purpose of publishing the "Monthly Anthology," a periodical magazine with multiple contributors that was partly original poetry and essays and partly reviews of American publications. The Society's collection began to accumulate through exchange for the "Monthly Anthology" and as a review source. The society kept their collection in a room rented on Congress Street and opened it to the public for a fee. The members soon decided to start an institution of their own similar to that of the Liverpool Athenaeum. They purchased a house on Tremont Street for a library and reading room, which would eventually become the Boston Athenaeum.
From the description of Anthology Society records, 1806-1808. (Boston Athenaeum). WorldCat record id: 55742321
