Edmund Kornfeld, an organic chemist working at Eli Lilly, first isolated Vancomycin in 1953 from a soil sample collected from the interior jungles of Borneo by a missionary, Rev. William M. Bouw (1918-2006). The organism that produced it was eventually named Amycolatopsis orientalis.^[21] The original purpose for Vancomycin was the treatment of penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

McGuire and colleagues published several following parts in this study: 

"Vancomycin, a new antibiotic.II. In vitro antibacterial studies." Antibiot. Ann., 3 (1955-56) 612-18.

The antibiotic was purified in 1958:

R.M. Higgins, W.H. Harrison, G.M. Wild, H.R. Wild, M.H. McCormick."Vancomycin, a new antibiotic. VI. Purification and properties of vancomycin," Antibiot. Ann., 5, 906-14.

See Donald P. Levine, "Vancomycin: A history," Clin. Infect. Dis., 42 (2006) Suppl. 1, S5-12.