When Vasconcelos was 8 or 9 his uncle applied to move to the parish church of São Martinho do Bispo nearer Coimbra.

He left High School with awards in distinction in Geography and Natural History and then took preparatory courses in Philosophy and Theology before joining the University of Coimbra in 1879.

In this capacity he taught various courses, including Dogmatic Theology and General Isagogics and Archaeology, Hermeneutics and Heuristics.Vasconcelos was the organizer of the University Archive from 1897 on.

He wrote for various magazines and newspapers, particularly for the Correio de Coimbra, the diocese’s paper, and O Instituto, of which he was a member of the editorial board.

His research was mainly confined to Coimbra and its university, effectively developing the concept of local history in Portugal, but he also wrote biographies, being best known for those on the Portuguese soldier and poet, Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas and the Spanish philosopher Francisco Suárez.