diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index 72c76b32..5cafa57b 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import math
 import random
 import logging
 import shutil
+import calendar
 
 from codecs import open
 from collections import defaultdict
@@ -276,13 +277,24 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
             # `dates` is already sorted by date
             for _period, group in groupby(dates, key=key):
                 archive = list(group)
-                # arbitrarily grab the first date so that the usual
+                # Arbitrarily grab the first date so that the usual
                 # format string syntax can be used for specifying the
                 # period archive dates
                 date = archive[0].date
                 save_as = save_as_fmt.format(date=date)
-                write(save_as, template, self.context,
-                      dates=archive, blog=True)
+                # Add period information to context
+                context = self.context.copy()
+                try:
+                    context['year'] = _period[0]
+                    if len(_period) >= 2:
+                        context['month'] = _period[1]
+                        context['month_name'] = calendar.month_name[_period[1]]
+                    if len(_period) >= 3:
+                        context['day'] = _period[2]
+                except TypeError:
+                    context['year'] = _period
+                # Write period archive to file
+                write(save_as, template, context, dates=archive, blog=True)
 
         period_save_as = {
                 'year' : self.settings['YEAR_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
diff --git a/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/archives.html b/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/archives.html
index f6784942..3c1c6af8 100644
--- a/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/archives.html
+++ b/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/archives.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {% extends "base.html" %}
 {% block content %}
 <section id="content" class="body">
-<h1>Archives for {{ SITENAME }}</h1>
+<h1>Archives for {% if month %}{{ month_name }} {% endif %}{% if day %}{{ day }}, {% endif %}{{ year or SITENAME }}</h1>
 
 <dl>
 {% for article in dates %}
diff --git a/pelican/themes/simple/templates/archives.html b/pelican/themes/simple/templates/archives.html
index 050f2686..7f59898c 100644
--- a/pelican/themes/simple/templates/archives.html
+++ b/pelican/themes/simple/templates/archives.html
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {% extends "base.html" %}
 {% block content %}
-<h1>Archives for {{ SITENAME }}</h1>
+<h1>Archives for {% if month %}{{ month_name }} {% endif %}{% if day %}{{ day }}, {% endif %}{{ year or SITENAME }}</h1>
 
 <dl>
 {% for article in dates %}