Grace Eckley earned her Ph.D. from Kent State University, 1970. She began researching Stead because she found him to be a dominant influence on James Joyce, which can be read in three of her books: Children’s Lore in “Finnegans Wake” (1985), The Steadfast “Finnegans Wake” (1994), and The Steadfast James Joyce (1997).

As Professor Emerita of Drake University in Iowa, while living in Colorado, she edited NewsStead, from 1992 to 2004, a twice-yearly journal devoted to anything by and about W. T. Stead. The present life of W. T. Stead culminates twenty-four years of research.