Skalkowski was born into a Polish noble family. He studied at the universities of Vilnius and Moscow. For over 50 years, he headed the Statistical Committee in Odesa. He was also a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the Department of History and Philology.
His extensive historical works on the Novorossiya Territory (Southern Ukraine) and the Zaporizhian Sich remain valuable for their use of primary sources, many of which have since been lost. Due to his pioneering contributions, his contemporaries called him the "Herodotus of Novorossiya'.
Skalkowski's critical stance toward the Haidamaky uprising was publicly condemned by Taras Shevchenko in the poem "Cold Ravine" (Kholodnyi Yar).
He was a frequent contributor to the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, where he also published the oral recollections of the former Zaporizhian Cossack Mykyta Korzh [uk].
In addition to his academic work, Skalkowski wrote several historical novels, including "Kagalnichanka", "Crystal Beam", "Brothers Redeemer", and "Mama".
