These papers reflect the professional career of professor Arthur C. Trowbridge. They include field notes dated 1912 to 1947 written by Trowbridge and others while working with the U.S. Geological Survey Bureau. The collection also includes Trowbridge's writings, professional correspondence, University of Iowa course instruction, maps, photographs of geological formations, and committee work.

Materials are arranged in chronological and alphabetical order. Correspondence includes letters to and from Trowbridge under the name of the correspondent. General correspondence organized by year follows correspondence organized alphabetically.