He was born in Brunswick, Maine, and was Professor of Zoology and Geology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1878 until his death.

[2] His chief work was the classification and anatomy of arthropods, and contributions to economic entomology, zoogeography, and the phylogeny and metamorphoses of insects.

Packard was appointed to the United States Entomological Commission in 1877 where he served with Charles Valentine Riley and Cyrus Thomas.

His Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of North America was published in three parts (1895, 1905, 1915, edited by T. D. A. Cockerell).

[7] He died on February 14, 1905, in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife and children outliving him.