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The Keene Sentinel

Local newspaper in Keene, New Hampshire

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ7744031 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Keene Sentinel is an independently owned daily newspaper published in Keene, New Hampshire. The fifth oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States, it was went by the Sentinel after its founding by John Prentiss in March 1799 and as the New Hampshire Sentinel. It was preceded in Keene by ventures including The New Hampshire Recorder, The Cheshire Advertiser, The Columbian Informer, and The Rising Sun. It is published six days a week.

History

On March 23, 1799, first issue of the New Hampshire Sentinel, a weekly paper was published by the owner, John Prentiss. He was just 21 years old when he began the paper. The newspaper would stay under the Prentiss family guidance until 1954.

From 1799 through 1847, John Prentiss published the weekly himself, until 1819, when his brother joined him for a period of two years. His son, John William Prentiss worked with him from 1828 until leaving in 1834, however, he returned in 1838 and they named their enterprise, J & J.W. Prentiss.

In 1847, John Prentiss retired and his son, John William Prentiss hired Albert Godfrey as a partner.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Keene Sentinel” as local newspaper in Keene, New Hampshire. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1799, 1954, 1847, 1819—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Keene, Sentinel and Local can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as local newspaper in Keene, New Hampshire. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7744031. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1799, 1954, 1847 and 1819.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Keene Sentinel”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Keene Sentinel primary sources, The Keene Sentinel archive and Keene research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Keene Sentinel”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Keene Sentinel” 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.