Joaquim José da Costa de Macedo was the son of Agostinho José da Costa de Macedo (1745-1822), a professor régio (royally appointed professor) of Rational and Moral Philosophy from at least 1782. Agostinho was also a full member (1789) and later veteran member (1814) of the Academia das Ciências [Academy of Sciences], and served as assistant librarian at the Biblioteca Pública de Lisboa [Lisbon Public Library], where he was appointed to assist António Ribeiro dos Santos, who led the institution until 1816.

Like his father, Joaquim José da Costa de Macedo served the Portuguese Crown and State for over sixty years (1794-1857). He began his career in the Accountant-General's Office of the Provinces, appointed on 27 November 1794 at the age of 17, and retired from public service as the Chief Guard of the Torre do Tombo on 8 August 1857, at the age of 80. He held the position of Counsellor of State, served as Vice-President of the Junta dos Juros [Debt Management Office], and was a commander of several orders. Additionally, he was a member of over forty international academies and intellectual societies. Despite lacking formal education, he was a full member of the Academy for more than forty years (1814-1856) and served as its perpetual secretary (1834-1856), stepping down from the role after a disagreement with Alexandre Herculano.

Except for seven years in Paris (1800-1807), where he served as assistant secretary to the Portuguese legation, Macedo spent his entire life in Portugal. In 1805, he wrote an article in French that was published across three issues of the Parisian magazine Revue Philosophique, Littéraire et Politique . Entitled "Sur les élements de l'Histoire du Portugal par Mr. Seyries [Serieys]", which denounced the errors and plagiarisms accumulated by Antoine Serieys regarding Portuguese history (J.M. Quérard, La France Littéraire , vol. IX, 1838, pp. 70-71). Unfortunately, no copies of this booklet have been found to date.

As a full member of the Literature class from 1814 onwards (serving as treasurer, dean, and secretary), Macedo interacted with some of the leading figures in historical studies in Portugal at the time, including Ribeiro dos Santos, Caetano do Amaral, João Pedro Ribeiro, Ferreira Gordo, José Liberato Freire de Carvalho, and Alexandre Herculano. He was part of academic and literary commissions that played a crucial role in the fate of Portuguese documentary research, particularly concerning traditional courts. He significantly contributed to the complex process of reorganising the collections of the dissolved convents after Évora-Monte in 1834. Notably, he was involved in the transfer and reception of manuscripts incorporated into the "red series" of the Academy itself and the collection known as the Manuscripts of the Torre do Tombo Library.

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