The collection consists of subject files, correspondence, and photographs pertaining to Trout's career in dairy and food science. Trout's papers contain few notes about research he did. The Personal Papers contain articles written by and about Trout, speeches, and "A Son of Lick Creek" manuscript about Trout's life (pages missing), biographical file, and thesis.

The Subject Files section contains files on various topics and includes several folders of correspondence. The topics include lectures he gave to groups about cheese tasting, countries he visited, Collegiate Students' International Contest in Judging Dairy Products, dairy history, bulletins on dairy production topics, and theses from dairy students some of which are inscribed to Trout.

Also included are files about MSU dairy classes and cards that list students in dairy short courses from 1912 to 1959. There are also files about homogenized milk. There is very little of Trout's research notes in these files. They mostly contain articles and advertising pamphlets. The files relating to Trout's book Homogenized Milk contain correspondence, press and reviews, and a few notes.

The photographs contain images of Lansing Dairy Company, cheese tasting events in Trout's classes, dairy plants in countries Trout visited, people with Trout, group shots of MSU dairy short course students, dairy faculty, and food science faculty.