Due to his longevity, Joaquim José da Costa de Macedo witnessed many key events spanning the reigns of Queen Maria I to King Luís I; however, he left behind no correspondence or published memoirs. As an author and perpetual secretary of the Academia das Ciências , Macedo significantly influenced the cultural and historiographical movement within the institution during the reforms of its internal statutes in 1834, 1840, and 1852. He collaborated with several generations of Portuguese historians, including Caetano do Amaral, Herculano, João Pedro Ribeiro, and the Viscount of Santarém. He played an important, albeit secondary, role in the historiography of the Portuguese discoveries and in maintaining a particular scholarly tradition within the organisation. It could even be argued that the Academy owed its continued existence to him from 1834 onwards, as an institution that still thrives today, a notion reflected in his 1838 observations regarding the decline and stagnation of its activities since 1831. He internationalised and elevated the prestige of the institution by associating it with notable figures such as the Duke of Bragança, Queen Maria II, King Ferdinand II, and King Pedro V, who served as its protectors. He sought to ease the ideological divisions in Portuguese society between 1807 and 1851 by bringing together individuals from various political factions within the Academy. In his efforts to pacify ideological differences and reform the Academy in line with the vision of a new generation, he encountered conflicts with the Viscount of Santarém, José Liberato, and Herculano. Regarding Herculano, the conflict between him and Macedo, which would come to define Portuguese historiography in the second half of the 19th century, has yet to be fully examined. By the age of 47, the author of História de Portugal no longer engaged with the same dynamism in the affairs and projects of the Academy. As for Macedo, he spent his final days in relative obscurity and silence, perhaps undeservedly, living in a form of self-imposed exile in Golegã. He is, therefore, a historical figure deserving of his own monographic study, which could potentially offer significant insights into Portuguese intellectual and academic life during the first two-thirds of the 19th century.

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