The Diana Warshay Papers contain correspondence, minutes, bylaws, newsletters, grant applications, questionnaires, and FORTRAN coding forms and printouts. The collection documents Dr. Warshay's work in studying abortion and domestic abuse cases through the Michigan Clergy Counseling Service, the Tri-County Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the Detroit Police Department's Social Conflict Research Project. Perhaps the most interesting elements of the collection are the Data Sheets for the Michigan Clergy Counseling Service which describe the circumstances surrounding women who sought abortions in the early 1970's and the Victim Study Telephone Surveys for the Social Conflict Research Project which describe the circumstances surrounding domestic abuse calls to the Detroit Police Department.
The papers are divided into three series: Michigan Clergy Counseling Service, Tri-County Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Social Conflict Research Project.
Diana Warshay was a sociologist who worked in the areas of abortion rights and crisis intervention training. She taught at the University of Toledo in the Sociology Department.
The Michigan Clergy Counseling Service (MCCS) was a state-wide clergy abortion referral network which operated before abortion was made legal. Diana Warshay conducted studies of the circumstances of MCCS clients. The paper, "The Abortion Brokers: A Transactional Analysis of Organizational Development," included in this collection, is about MCCS.
Dr. Warshay coordinated the Detroit Police Department's Social Conflict Research Project (SCRP) in 1978 and 1979. The Social Conflict Task Force was formed in September 1977 and was responsible for directing overall SCRP activity. The objectives of the SCRP were to "provide crisis intervention training to a limited number of patrol and investigation officers assigned to a single police precinct" and to "provide a mechanism which will facilitate the process of criminal complaint filing for the female victim of domestic assaults" (from grant application). A third objective, added later, was to "increase the willingness of domestic assault victims to obtain the appropriate assistance or to pursue the appropriate action against their attacker(s), be that in the form of initiating civil or criminal proceedings or the seeking of medical treatment or professional counseling" (from subgrant adjustment request). These objectives were realized through a study of other police departments' crisis intervention programs, a search for a test precinct for training, victim surveys and police surveys before and after police training, and a training program for 250 officers.
Diana Warshay was one of the founders of the Tri-County Coalition Against Domestic Violence (TCCADV), which originated out of the SCRP and the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic Violence in April 1978. The primary purposes were to "collect and disseminate information on services for victims of domestic violence; collect information on, and educate the Tri-County community about the nature, extent, and effects of domestic violence; appraise services rendered to victims of domestic violence by community agencies and make recommendations for improvement and expansion of services; [and] provide a mechanism for the sharing and solicitation of resources in the area of domestic violence" (from bylaws). Dr. Warshay served on the board of directors.
