The Jeep Holland papers date from his youth in the late 1940s up to his death in 1998, and document his personal life, his education, and his career, particularly the record label and production company he founded, A-Square Records. The collection is comprised of the following series: Administrative, Artist Files, Personal Files, Realia, Sound Recordings, and Visual.
Hugh Henry "Jeep" Holland was born in 1943 in Boston, Massachusetts. Stories explaining the origin of his nickname stem from his father's work during World War II, and vary between working with the motor pool, and working in the Studebaker factory that was then manufacturing Jeeps for the war effort. Following the war, the Holland family moved to East Lansing, Michigan, where Jeep and his younger brother, Frank Jr. (sometimes called "Jomp"), grew up and attended school.
During school, Jeep participated in a number of extracurricular activities including student council, various theatrical productions, and the wrestling and football teams. It was also during his youth that Jeep developed interests that would guide his later career path. Jeep's habitual collecting likely started at a very young age. He accumulated comic books, promotional materials for his favorite cartoons and movies, and created detailed scrapbooks of important events in his life. Likewise, as a child, Jeep was a talented violinist. While he apparently didn't particularly enjoy the instrument, his love of music was beyond question, and by the time he was 16, he was essentially running the local record store. This position at the record store also contributed to his collecting impulses, as he made a point of acquiring popular records as they were released. Furthermore, Jeep's work at the record store and his extensive knowledge of popular music provided him with his first tastes of the music scene that he would soon become an integral part of, as he acted as DJ for local dances and other events.
Following his graduation from high school in 1961, Jeep moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to continue his education at the University of Michigan. Jeep mainly focused on humanities courses, and while he occasionally excelled in his school work, he was inconsistent enough that by January of 1966, he was asked by the university not to enroll in classes for the following semester.
Though his studies were unsuccessful, Jeep had taken a manager position at the Ann Arbor branch of Discount Records, and was quickly becoming a fixture of the Ann Arbor music scene. By 1965, Jeep was already heavily involved in the management of a local musical group comprised of Ann Arbor high school students, The Rationals. In 1967, A-Square Records was incorporated, and Jeep made a business of managing, producing, and promoting a host of Michigan bands, including the 3rd Power, All The Lonely People, The Amboy Dukes, The Apostles, Frijid Pink, The Frost, The Jagged Edge, The MC5, The Children, The Rationals, Savage Grace, Shakey Jake, The Scot Richard Case, The Stooges (Jeep is said to have given Iggy Pop his nickname), The Thyme, Wilson Mower Pursuit, and many more.
While there is little doubt that Jeep's passion for the music scene was genuine, he was at best an amateur when it came to business. Before long, the scene he had helped create was beginning to outgrow the small local production companies that had nurtured it. By the early 1970s, A-Squared and other local labels were being pushed out by larger commercial operations. In the summer of 1971, Jeep moved to Boston, where he once again worked for Discount Records. In 1976, Jeep returned to the music business, this time as northeast regional promoter for United Artists. Additionally, while in Boston, Jeep worked with WFNX-FM radio and participated in a music trivia segment called "Stump Jeep." In the late 1980s, Jeep relocated again from Boston to Baltimore, Maryland where he worked with Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. Jeep passed away on March, 14 1998 from complications due to diabetes.
