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George Malcolm Trout papers

 Record Group
Identifier: UA-17.127

Scope and Content

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.

Dates

  • Creation: 1899 - 1986

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Grades and Class Lists for Dairy Classes and Short Courses are restricted.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Biographical Note

George Malcolm Trout was born on March 7, 1896 to Sidney and Anna Trout on a farm near Birmingham, Iowa. He attended the University of Northern Iowa from 1916-1917 and taught in a rural school from September 1917 to February 1918. He entered the U.S. Army in 1918 and served in France. He received his B.S. in Dairy Industry in 1923 and a M.S. in 1924 from Iowa State University. From 1924 to 1928 he was an instructor and assistant professor at University of West Virginia. He married Agnes Crain on September 1, 1927 and they had a son, James, and a daughter, Nelda.

Trout came to Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) in 1928 as an assistant professor of dairy husbandry. In 1936 while on leave from MSC, he received his Ph.D. from Cornell University. In 1936 he was made associate professor and then professor in 1941. In 1929 he researched and developed a homogenization process for milk. He discovered that for homogenized milk to taste good it must be pasteurized first. He wrote a book called Homogenized Milk which became a respected book on the subject.

In 1960 he moved to the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. He retired in 1966. Trout died November 1, 1990 at the age of 94.

In 1945 he received the Borden Award. In 1964 he received the American Dairy Science Association Award of honor. Trout's 90th birthday, March 7, 1986, was declared "Mac Trout Day" by Governor Blanchard. The Food Science building on the MSU campus was renamed for Trout on October 26, 1992.

Extent

9.4 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Custodial History

Donated by Agnes Crain Trout.

Legal Status

Copyright: Michigan State University.

Property Rights: Michigan State University.

Title
George Malcolm Trout Papers
Status
4 Published And Cataloged
Author
S. Roberts
Date
September 2006
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the University Archives and Historical Collections Repository

Contact:
Conrad Hall
943 Conrad Road, Room 101
East Lansing MI 48824 US
517-355-2330