Is there a way for the distribution list to read in the Contact information
for individual contacts.

No. A DL stores only name and address

In Outlook Express, the Group name is revealed
under Other. Is there a way to identify what group/distribution list a
contact belongs to by looking at an individual contact?

No. This is yet another reason why personal DLs of more than minimal size are a real pain to manage and probably should be avoided.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx