[5][3] The anonymous editor of The Humming Bird is speculated to have been Polly (Thompson) Hall, wife of the magazine's printer, Lazarus Beach.
[2] Beach had established himself as a printer in Connecticut as early as 1764[6] and later printed material by other notable female writers, including Susanna Rowson.
[1] In contrast to other magazines at the time that offered opportunities for women to be published in male-edited periodicals, The Humming Bird provides an example of content decisions dictated by a female editor.
According to the three remaining issues of the magazine, contents generally included weather reports, marriage announcements, poetry, serialized fiction, history, essays, and travel literature.
[5][2] Noted articles include "The Contrast," in the first issue, authored by the editor herself to illustrated how industrious women might find time to manage their household while also writing material for the magazine and earning money to purchase copies; and a poem titled "The Coquette" which borrows heavily from the novel of the same name by author Hannah Webster Foster.