Entry in progress—B.P.
 
Wikipedia: Whiskey sour
The whiskey sour is a mixed drink containing whiskey (often bourbon), lemon juice, sugar, and optionally, a dash of egg white. With the egg white, it is sometimes called a Boston Sour. With a few bar spoons of full-bodied red wine floated on top, it is often referred to as a New York Sour. It is shaken and served either straight up or over ice.

The traditional garnish is half an orange slice and a maraschino cherry.
     
10 December 1933, Boston (MA) Herald, “126 Drinks and How They’re Made,” magazine sec., pg. 8, col. 8:
CONTINENTAL SOUR
(Use large bar glass.)
1/2 teaspoonful of fine sugar, dissolve in water.
Juice of half a lemon.
1 wine glass of whiskey.
Fill with shaved ice.
Shake well, strain into a sour glass, with claret.
 
Feast Magazine
New York Sour
Story and recipe by Matt Seiter Apr 28, 2012    
Surprisingly, the New York Sour, which dates back to the late 1870s, was created in Chicago by a bartender who claimed to have invented the Manhattan.
 
While the Manhattan claim can’t be confirmed, the New York Sour can safely be attributed to this bartender, though the cocktail’s name changed a few times after its conception. It was known as the Continental Sour and the Southern Whiskey Sour before becoming the New York Sour, most likely after some New York bartender popularized it and changed its name (a common occurrence in cocktail history).
   
13 March 2015, The Telegraph (London, UK), “Six forgotten cocktails that deserve to be revived” by David Wondrich, pg. ?:
New York Sour recipe
The New York Sour dates to at least the 1880s, but it’s gone by other names, including the “Continental Sour” or a “Southern Whiskey Sour.”

INGREDIENTS
60ml straight rye whiskey
15ml lemon juice
7ml orange juice
5ml caster sugar
15ml cabernet sauvignon or other dry red wine
 
Punch
How Well Do You Actually Know the Whiskey Sour?
With just three ingredients, the Whiskey Sour has enjoyed more than a century of unparalleled popularity. Here, the classic recipe and its modern interpretations.
JUNE 12, 2017 story: PUNCH STAFF
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The first printed record of the Whiskey Sour appears in 1862 in Jerry Thomas’ How to Mix Drinks, though the recipe likely dates back many years earlier. Relying on sugar to be dissolved in a small amount of water before adding the remaining ingredients, rather than syrup, the original Whiskey Sour construction resembles that of punch. But unlike punch, the Whiskey Sour has always been made on a small plan, a fact that makes it difficult to pinpoint the drink’s precise origins.
(...)
While the original three-ingredient cocktail is still the best-known version, other early renditions of the drink have since gone on to become classics in their own right, from the red wine-topped New York Sour to the frothy Boston Sour, made with egg white—a PUNCH favorite.
 
Google Books
The New York Sour
By Marvin Koyo
Bloomginton, IN: iUniverse
2019
Pg. ?:
After pouring the bourbon, she added the red wine by using a spoon on the top of each drink to make the wine float and said.
 
“Voila. I bet you heard about that drink, didn’t you?”
 
“That’s the Continental Sour.”
 
“No, dummy, it’s the New York Sour.”
 
“You’re wrong. Who taught you that drink?”
 
“Helena.”
 
“Well, she’s wrong. My dad told me it’s the Continental Sour.”
 
After many researches, Danielle acknowledged the drink’s name had changed throughout time, fro mthe Continental Sour, Southwestern Whiskey Sour to the New York Sour.