In stating its purpose to cover the theater, it proclaimed that coverage of the dramatic profession had been "degraded by having its affairs treated in the professedly theatrical papers side by side with prize fights, cocking matches, baseball, and other sports."

Harrison Grey Fiske started contributing in 1879, and eventually obtained ownership of the paper.

The paper published until April 1922, after changing from a weekly publication to a monthly at its very end.

[3][4] Frank Luther Mott, a historian of American magazines, called the Mirror the "matchless chronicler of the New York stage," though it also included reports from other cities including London and Chicago.

Contributors over its history included William Winter ("Dramatic Diary" column), Nym Crinkle ("Feuilleton"), Frank E. Woods ("Spectator" column), Burns Mantle, Mary H. Fiske ("The Giddy Gusher"), and Charles Carroll.