The Phoenix (newspaper)
name of several alternative weekly newspapers
The Phoenix (stylized as The Phœnix) was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct Boston Phoenix, Providence Phoenix, Portland Phoenix, and Worcester Phoenix. These publications emphasized local arts and entertainment coverage as well as lifestyle and political coverage. The Portland Phoenix, which folded in 2019, was revived a few months later by another company, New Portland Publishing. The newspaper closed in 2023.
The papers, like most alternative weeklies, are somewhat similar in format and editorial content to The Village Voice.
History
Origin
The Phoenix was founded in 1965 by Joe Hanlon, a former editor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student newspaper, The Tech. Since many Boston-area college newspapers were printed at the same printing firm, Hanlon's idea was to do a four-page single-sheet insert with arts coverage and ads. He began with the Harvard Business School's newspaper, The Harbus News. A student there, James T. Lewis, became Hanlon's advertising manager.
Boston After Dark began March 2, 1966.
“The Phoenix (newspaper)” enters the record as name of several alternative weekly newspapers. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Phoenix, newspaper and name can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Phoenix (newspaper)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Phoenix, newspaper and name provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2756161. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2019, 2023, 1965 and 1966.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Phoenix (newspaper)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Phoenix (newspaper) primary sources, The Phoenix (newspaper) archive and Phoenix research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Phoenix (newspaper)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Phoenix (newspaper)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.