MINOT -- Bob Ziegler's collection of 1,014 business cards includes people ranging from congressmen to the president of General Motors. The cards share one thing in common, though. They all came from someone with the last name Smith.
Ziegler's hobby for the past 30 years has been collecting business cards of people named Smith.
He estimates he mails three letters a week to Smiths whose names he's come across in print. Over the years, he's sent about 2,500 requests. Not everyone has a card to send, but Ziegler said, "Some of the letters I get are even better than the card."
His favorite response came from a mayor. The mayor's letter, written with purple ink on green stationery bordered with an eagle and flag design, stated he didn't have a business card because it would "detract from the dignity of the office."
Ziegler's one regret as he looks back on 30 years of collecting is he didn't save that letter.
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Some Smiths have written back and called the request bizarre. Others let Ziegler know they were honored, flattered or confused.
"A lot of them have a sense of humor. and they kind of play along," Ziegler said. "I don't think I will ever get tired of it because of all the letters that come back. They make it all worthwhile."
Ziegler, a native of the Pittsburgh area, picked up his hobby while stationed with the Air Force in Denver. He served in the Air Force as a cop and later in intelligence, taking his first and last assignments at the Minot base. He remained in Minot after retiring in 1995.
His interest in collecting began after reading about a boy who had collected 50,000 business cards.
"I was thinking, 'Hey, that's kind of cool.' But I didn't know what I would do with 50,000," Ziegler said.
So instead, he narrowed his focus to Smiths, simply because it is a common surname that would enable him to collect cards from every state. Indeed, he does have cards from every state.
He doesn't scan phone books or do Internet searches, though. A voracious reader, he sends letters of request to Smiths who make the news. Many of the business cards collected have come from law enforcement and sports or from officials of universities, organizations, government or companies. Seventeen of the business cards are from a John Smith.
Ziegler doesn't have many from the Minot area. Those include cards he's picked up from a bank teller and car salesman.
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Pat Smith, executive director of the Souris Valley United Way in Minot, has a vague recollection of Ziegler contacting her about a year ago to request a card, which she did supply.
"I thought it was kind of unique," she said. Does having her card in a Smith collection feel good?
"Well, sure," she laughed.
Ziegler's hobby gained notoriety when one of his letter recipients pointed The Wall Street Journal toward the human interest story. A reporter flew out from New York..
Since that story, Ziegler said, he's done a phone interview with a Canadian radio broadcaster who saw the article.
A little fame to establish legitimacy can be useful when your requests are coming at people from out of the blue.
Still, not everyone will respond. Ziegler accepts that, at least most of the time. When the managing editor of U.S. News and World Report failed to respond a number of years ago, Ziegler followed up twice with more letters. Stephen Smith, now editor of The Washington Examiner, told The Wall Street Journal that Ziegler eventually wore him down. He sent the card.
Ziegler said he's usually not that persistent but this was different. He wanted that card.
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"I used to subscribe to the U.S. News and World Report," he said. "It was a very good magazine. I liked it."
