Est. 1884
The Sentinel's Mission
​
The Sentinel has gone through several name changes since 1884, and of course many owners and publishers. We are only the most recent, and hopefully not the last. We are so excited to be a part of this historic newspaper!
​
Our Mission and ultimate goal is to bring back the true meaning of the hometown paper. We will look for news from national, state, and regional sources that impact us locally.
​
Our Goal is to return to the tradition of sharing local news and events to the residents of Sheridan County and the surrounding areas. If it is news to our subscribers, it is news to us.
Kenoxie Archives in the News
The following article was published in The Sheridan Sentinel on Thursday, December 12, 2019.
​
Kenoxie Archives & Museum
Expanding its Collection of Sheridan County's Written History
By Rachel Farber
On Friday, December 6, 2019, we picked up the latest donation to the Kenoxie Archives & Museum, Inc. Kendra Salyers-Barnes was trying to finish clearing out things abandoned in the building she purchased to move her insurance agency into. She found neatly packaged newspapers, many of them from the late 1800’s. We were called about adding them to our collection.
It was like an early Christmas present for us! The names of the newspapers and publish dates were written on the edges of the paper packaging. When looking through them, we found that the volume from 1907 that was missing from our collection was there. This gives us a complete collection for The Sentinel, from 1884 in Kenneth to current with The Sheridan Sentinel.
Also, in these packages, were several other publications. The Sheridan County Tribune was published in Kenneth from July 1881 to August 1882, this is the oldest publication in Sheridan County. The Kenneth Democrat, which changed its name to The Hoxie Democrat about the same time as The Sentinel, was published from December 1885 to August 1891. The Sheridan Times was published in Sheridan, along the North Fork Solomon between Hoxie and Selden, from May 1887 to June 1888. It then moved to Selden, where the name was changed to The Selden Times, and continued publication until December 1888. The Hoxie Times published for a very short time in 1892. There are only three issues in the package (see its first page in the Now & Then section). The Sheridan County Democrat was published in Hoxie from May 1892 to April 1896. We had a bound book with several issues of The Democrat, but it was missing several throughout the set in our morgue (newspaper archive).
The last of the other publications is The Sheridan County News. It was published by W. B. Daniels from April 1929 to August 1929 in Hoxie. At this point he purchased The Hoxie Sentinel and called it The Hoxie Sentinel and Sheridan County News. After the first three of the six years he owned The Hoxie Sentinel, he dropped the “Sheridan County News” from the title.
These newspapers have been well preserved, although not with the proper humidity level. They are in great condition with the exception of the edges, which flake off small pieces when touched.
According to the Library of Congress, there have been 23 different newspapers registered in Sheridan County. The Kenoxie Archives & Museum, Inc. now has possession of most newspapers published in Hoxie. We know that The Hoxie Palladium was published in Hoxie and there are several that were published in Selden (The Selden Advocate, The Selden Courant, The Selden Independent [two publications] and The Selden Observer) that we do not have. We would love to add them to our collection.
There were also several small publications all over the county that were not registered with the Library of Congress. We have found the names of these publications in reading The Sentinel. We would love to add these to our collection as well.
We invite everyone to come in to see what we have acquired for the Kenoxie Archives & Museum, Inc.
The following article was published in The Sheridan Sentinel on Thursday, March 15, 2018.
​
Preserving the Written History of Northwest Kansas
By Rachel Farber
So much can be learned from reading old newspapers. Not only about births, marriages, and deaths, but also anything else that happened. A century ago, going to town to do business was considered newsworthy. It was even printed when someone purchased a yearly subscription to the paper. Many times, it can even be found when someone moved, the story would tell who moved out of a house and who was moving in it.
The Sheridan Sentinel began as The Kenneth Sentinel in 1884. A few years later, when the town of Hoxie was founded, they, along with many other businesses of Kenneth, moved buildings and all the few miles to the new town site. The name was then changed to The Hoxie Sentinel. After many years and multiple owners, some of whom consolidated papers into “The Sentinel,” the archives have been a fundamental aspect of the newspaper.Those same volumes of newspapers can still be found at The Sheridan Sentinel, prompting Viktorija Briggs and myself, Rachel Farber, to create a new company and donate the archives to the newly founded company, Kenoxie Archives & Museum. We immediately applied for a non-profit 501(c)3 status with the IRS. Part of the reason for beginning this venture is that we have discovered that no other museum like this exists in the central U. S.
There are only a select few, in the entire country, strictly devoted to newspapers and a few more that are part of their local historical society. We received the letter confirming this status in early March. We are now starting to work toward the goals we have for the Archives.
The name "Kenoxie" comes from the March 11, 1886, newspaper. The publisher was trying to come up with an appropriate name once they moved from the old town of Kenneth to the new town of Hoxie. He thought to call it The Kenoxie Sentinel. However, decided on The Hoxie Sentinel.
The first thing we are looking to acquire is specialized storage boxes for the oldest volumes of the newspapers. These volumes are not hard bound and are in very poor shape. The edges of the papers are crumbling due to the lack of protective binding.
The next project will be to get proper shelving and climate control in the archive room. We plan to have one shelf for each volume, plus extra for the years to come. There will also be room to store other important newspaper equipment in this room until the next phase of the project can be accomplished.
Once the archive room is completed, we plan to start in the back room of the building, which will house the exhibit of how a newspaper worked in the past. We want to start with the oldest printing press we can find, working our way up to the current process in which a newspaper is put together. We will also be acquiring a printing press that was original to The Hoxie Sentinel.
​
We are exploring other ideas for exhibits, funding, and publicity. We would love to see more of the small papers that were printed in the small towns around the northwest Kansas area, such as the Guy Runt, the Tasco Sun, The Golden Belt (Grinnell), or others like them. If anyone would like to contribute to the Kenoxie Archives & Museum, please contact us at archives@sheridansentinel.com
or 785-677-3994.
Please be sure to “Like” our Kenoxie Archives & Museum Facebook page and visit our website, www.sheridansentinel.com/archives.