This weekend, our favorite video game plumbers are back, in a brand new adventure for Super Mario Bros. on the Wii-U. It turns out that Mario and the gang also exist in the historical record. We found Mario Luigi living in Yolo County, California, in both the 1930 US census and the 1940 US census. Yolo County, California, may, in fact, be a close fit to the fictional world of Mushroom Kingdom, as the surrounding region is well-known for its mushroom cultivation.
The 1940s has more ties to video games than just names reminiscent of our favorite childhood pastime. The earliest example of a video game was seen in 1947. The “Cathode ray tube Amusement Device” was almost an early version of Angry Birds giving users the chance to control a dot on a screen and simulate a missile being fired at targets. One of the inventors Thomas Goldsmith, Jr. can also be found in the 1940 US census living in New Jersey with a listed occupation of electrical engineer.
We also discovered Mario’s royal paramour Peach living in the same county. She was 32 years older than the Mario we discovered, and probably not a real princess, but who are we to judge?
Where would Mario be without his trusty dinosaur steed, Yoshi? We found three Yoshis in the same county (we strongly doubt they’re really from Yoshi Island though).
With Mario Luigi around, we didn’t find any Bowsers or Koopas living in Yolo at the time – hardly surprising! We did find quite a few villainously-named people living outside of Yolo.
Finding historical versions of some of our favorite video characters is just one of the many fantastic surprises hiding in our records, waiting to be found. What other classic cartridge heroes would you like to find?
Reblogged this on The OCD Genealogist and commented:
Tonight’s blog post is a reblog from Find My Past. Names really impress upon me, whether they be a name shared with someone famous or they invoke images of how they looked. What are your favorite names you’ve come across in your family tree?
Thanks for posting this article linking video games to historic records. That kind of link would be a great conversation starter with kids. It reminds me of some family ties software I’m working on. The software is designed to strengthen family ties by automatically creating email, text, or other messages that help younger family members understand what the world was like when older family members were their age. The software will use info about family members, family events, family relationships, and automatically located historic facts in topics the younger family member likes. For example, an automatically created note might read:
Jess, with your Grandma Rose’s birthday coming soon, I thought you might like to know some ways the world has changed since Grandma Rose was your age. When Grandma Rose was 9, in the year 1930, the Mickey Mouse comic strip made its first appearance, and Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to ride in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane. A lot has changed, but you know Grandma Rose will always love you. Xoxoxox Mom
The facts could be obtained automatically from digitized historic newspapers, web searches, or other sources. This is not traditional genealogy software but it shares the same passion for family history and strengthening family bonds. I would appreciate any feedback from genealogists. Please visit http://www.indiegogo.com/notes-from-when and let us know what you think. Thanks!
I took both the numerator and srivuepsor test. I scored 94 on the numerator and 78 on the srivuepsor test. Needless to say I was disappointed and should have requested to take the test again but I was just so annoyed. The test procters were chatting while we were taking the srivuepsor test and I had to re-read many of the questions several times before I finally asked them to please stop talking. They did stop but it sure was not a great way to introduce myself to the staff. I have been in srivuepsory work for years and also worked for the census the last two times as a census assistant. Both times my srivuepsor was a minority. This third time my srivuepsor is also a minority and I just can’t help wonder what is up. The language skills and basic English pronuncation of words of my srivuepsor is inexcuseable and most of the office and superisory staff is all minority. Now I know I have more education and ability then most if not all of them yet I end up on the bottom. Granted, my srivuepsory score was lower than I would have liked but I wonder if there is some scaling going on. I can’t believe that some of these folks scored 90 s on the srivuepsory test. Is it a practice for the lower srivuepsory jobs in the district field offices to be staffed with more minorities? Sure they have spanish skills which are useful for our large spanish-speaking population but is this the way the government works-on scores alone? I am not a racist and believe in merit based work but I can’t help feeling there is an undercurrent of reverse discrimation going on.