He produced pioneering reference works on the histories of Merthyr Tydfil and Newport; the coal, iron, and steel trades of South Wales; and Welsh literature.

[10][12][20] In 1877, Wilkins was "initiated into the mysteries of the Druidic lore",[21] and at the 1881 National Eisteddfod, held in Merthyr Tydfil, he won a £21 prize (approximately equivalent to £2,700 in 2023) and gold medal for the best "History of the Literature of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire from the earliest period to the present time.

[37][38][39][40][41][42][43] On his retirement in 1898, Wilkins was described as "a literary postmaster: successful editor, prolific writer, and sound historian – an Englishman with a Welshman's enthusiasm"[10] and "a genuine Cymro by adoption".

[10] He was described as "the first to write the history of Merthyr and Newport, the first to gather together the facts about the coal, iron, and steel trades of South Wales, and the first to set forth in due order the story of [Welsh] literature from 1300 to 1650.

They show doubtless less power of selection than of accumulation, but the facts are there in abundance, ... and it is this patient gathering of local annals which makes the wide generalisations of national history possible.

[9]: 22  Wilkins' magazine continues to be valuable as a historical resource, created in the context of the "urgent need to rescue and record such traditional lore which was then rapidly fading from memory".

His 1888 account gives the impression of Thomas as an enterprising woman who actively went after new markets, whereas evidence now suggests that this work was mainly conducted by her agents, particularly George Insole.

[48][49][50][51] Literary editor Meic Stephens concluded that Wilkins "endeavoured, not least in the pages of The Red Dragon, ... to create in the English language a readership with sympathies like his own, and for that attempt, some fifty years before it became feasible, he deserves to be remembered".