Physician, physiologist, ethnologist and teacher, Meigs was associated with the Jefferson Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania and the Academy of Natural Sciences. His interest in craniography resulted in his compilation of a 'Catalogue of Human Crania, in the Collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1857." He became a member of the Academy in 1852, was elected to the Standing Committee on Ethnology in 1854, becoming its chairman three years later, which office he held until its dissolution in 1876. He was librarian from 1856 to 1859. His activities at the Academy waned towards the end of his life, but his library and skull collection were donated by his father, John G. Meigs in 1895. This collection of papers consists of annotations in various catalogues, a handwritten list of the books donated to the Academy, a bound record of tables in Craniography prepared by Meigs, and many papers and notes about his various studies.