This month in Harvard history

March 13, 1944 — Between matinees at Boston’s RKO Theatre, composer-pianist Duke Ellington visits Paine Hall to give a 20-minute lecture on the blues (“Negro Music in America”). At the keyboard, Ellington illustrates his talk with “Sophisticated Lady,” “Subtle Slough,” “Dancers in Love,” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” and “Mood Indigo.”

March 1948 — The Division of Geological Sciences votes to discontinue geography as a separate field of undergraduate concentration, prompting consternation among faculty and students alike.

March 17-18, 1948 — In Paine Concert Hall (Music Building), composer-conductor Howard Hanson launches the Louis C. Elson Memorial Lectures with two talks on “The Materials of Music.”

March 24, 1949 — In Sanders Theatre, Harvard debaters meet counterparts from Cambridge University, England, to consider the following proposition: “Resolved, That the American Revolution was a mistake.” Not surprisingly, Cambridge argues the affirmative. Harvard wins the debate, which is its third consecutive contest with a British university.

April 1775 — In his diary, Samuel Chandler, Class of 1775, reports bowling in Cambridge against classmates for cakes and ale. He loses “only one Bottle.”

— From the Harvard Historical Calendar, a database compiled by Marvin Hightower