He lived in a time were personal meetings were still very normal. And he was in a trade were meeting many people was normal and beneficial. I would say anyone i

He lived in a time were personal meetings were still very normal. And he was in a trade were meeting many people was normal and beneficial. I would say anyone in that business meets that amount of people and even more. But he was one of the rare people who also documentated it well, while being relevant enough, to make an article about it. Meeting people doesn't neccessarly mean he know them all personaly, or had more then a handful encounters with them. Like if you have a big company-meeting with dozen on dozen relevant people, it's quite normal to go around and exchange contact-information, talk a bit, and never meet again or use the contact-info.