Musical Mutual Protective Union

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2014}}

{{Infobox union

| name = Musical Mutual Protective Union

| location_country = United States

| affiliation = Local 301 of the American Federation of Musicians from 1902 to 1921

| members = Musicians

| full_name =

| native_name =

| image = MMPU hall 209 E85 jeh.JPG

| founded = 1863

| predecessor =

| successor =

| dissolved =

| merged =

| headquarters = 209 East 85th Street
Manhattan, New York City

| key_people =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

The Musical Mutual Protective Union (MMPU) was a New York union of musicians, formed in 1863, with a focus on payment made to musicians in theaters and at balls.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MXDkIca5lYC&dq=Musical+Mutual+Protective+Union&pg=PA82 |author= Spitzer, John|title=American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date= 2012|isbn= 9780226769769|accessdate=June 10, 2014}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SnHpuUKDQ5MC&dq=%22Musical+Mutual+Protective+Union%22&pg=PA85 |title=Monarch of the Flute: The Life of Georges Barrere |author=Toff, Nancy |publisher= Oxford University Press|date=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-534692-3 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1865/11/13/news/the-musical-mutual-protective-union-card-to-the-public.html |author=Executive Committee of the Musical Protective Union |title=The Musical Mutual Protective Union – Card to the Public |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 13, 1865 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}}

In 1885, the union was open to "all instrumental performers, who have been residents of the United States for the period of six months previous to application."{{cite web|last=Goldberg |first=Jacob |url=http://www.local802afm.org/2013/02/breaking-the-color-line-2/ |title=Breaking the color line; Associated Musicians of Greater New York |publisher=Local802afm.org |date=February 11, 2013 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}} Foreign musicians were not allowed to play in orchestras unless they were in a union.

The union become Local 301 of the American Federation of Musicians in 1902.{{cite news|author-link=Christopher Gray (architectural historian) |author=Gray, Christopher|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/06/realestate/streetscapes-readers-questions-echoes-of-a-union-hall-artificial-sunlight.html |title=Streetscapes: Readers' Questions; Echoes of a Union Hall; Artificial Sunlight |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 6, 1999 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}} In 1904, it had 5,000 members, who were almost entirely German.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfrvVDA9v60C&dq=%22Musical+Mutual+Protective+Union%22&pg=PA367 |title=Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840–1940 |author=Koegel, John |publisher= University Rochester Press|date=2009 |isbn=9781580462150 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}} In 1910, approximately 300 black musicians were members in the roughly 8,000-member union.

It was located at 209 East 85th Street in Manhattan, New York City, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, in a building constructed in 1919. The building was later a theater and hall, a casino, and a waiters' union. The basement of the building now houses the Amsterdam Billiard Club. The original facade on 85th Street is still extant.

The union lost its charter in 1921. In 1929 the union planned a mass march against joblessness, claiming 35,000 unemployed, but was unable to secure a parade permit from the police.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/threestrikesmine00zinn |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/threestrikesmine00zinn/page/135 135] |quote=Musical Mutual Protective Union. |title=Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century |author1=Zinn, Howard |author-link=Howard Zinn |author2=Frank, Dana |author3=Kelley, Robin D. G.|name-list-style=amp |publisher=Beacon Press |date=2002 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFB_oT-jupQC&dq=%22Musical+Mutual+Protective+Union%22&pg=PA624 |title=The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926–1931 |author= Crafton, Donald |publisher= University of California Press|date=1999 |isbn=9780520221284 |accessdate=June 10, 2014}}