The contemporary university's reliance on coursepacks, whether they take print or digital form, is illuminated by Bruno Latour's theories and by consideration of a nineteenth-century copyright case involving noted textbook author William McGuffey. In particular, these contexts remind individuals that coursepacks are situated within shifting constellations of material things. In this essay, the author talks about translucency, coursepacks, and the post-historical university. This essay interrogates an educators' ontological assumptions about what coursepacks mean in the institutions in which they live and work. The author employs ontological as an understanding of things in the world and how they exist. He offers a historical thing-reading that attempts to "pick up" and "turn over" the strange translucent coursepack, bringing it into the light for all to see. (Contains 3 figures and 8 notes.)