diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index ffcddc7a..97662cce 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ Setting name (default value)                                            What doe
                                                                         generating new files. This can be useful in preventing older,
                                                                         unnecessary files from persisting in your output. However, **this is
                                                                         a destructive setting and should be handled with extreme care.**
+`OUTPUT_RETENTION` (``()``)                                             A tuple of filenames that should be retained and not deleted from the
+                                                                        output directory. One use case would be the preservation of version
+                                                                        control data. For example: ``(".hg", ".git", ".bzr")``
 `JINJA_EXTENSIONS` (``[]``)                                             A list of any Jinja2 extensions you want to use.
 `JINJA_FILTERS` (``{}``)                                                A list of custom Jinja2 filters you want to use.
                                                                         The dictionary should map the filtername to the filter function.
diff --git a/pelican/__init__.py b/pelican/__init__.py
index 1739aae3..53216421 100644
--- a/pelican/__init__.py
+++ b/pelican/__init__.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ class Pelican(object):
         self.markup = settings['MARKUP']
         self.ignore_files = settings['IGNORE_FILES']
         self.delete_outputdir = settings['DELETE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY']
+        self.output_retention = settings['OUTPUT_RETENTION']
 
         self.init_path()
         self.init_plugins()
@@ -175,7 +176,7 @@ class Pelican(object):
         # explicitely asked
         if (self.delete_outputdir and not
                 os.path.realpath(self.path).startswith(self.output_path)):
-            clean_output_dir(self.output_path)
+            clean_output_dir(self.output_path, self.output_retention)
 
         writer = self.get_writer()
 
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index c6cc6c3c..1c9b48c3 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
     'NEWEST_FIRST_ARCHIVES': True,
     'REVERSE_CATEGORY_ORDER': False,
     'DELETE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY': False,
+    'OUTPUT_RETENTION': (),
     'ARTICLE_URL': '{slug}.html',
     'ARTICLE_SAVE_AS': '{slug}.html',
     'ARTICLE_LANG_URL': '{slug}-{lang}.html',
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
index 0713e5ed..ab35d991 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -193,28 +193,31 @@ class TestUtils(LoggedTestCase):
             shutil.rmtree(empty_path, True)
 
     def test_clean_output_dir(self):
+        retention = ()
         test_directory = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
                                       'clean_output')
         content = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'content')
         shutil.copytree(content, test_directory)
-        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory)
+        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory, retention)
         self.assertTrue(os.path.isdir(test_directory))
         self.assertListEqual([], os.listdir(test_directory))
         shutil.rmtree(test_directory)
 
     def test_clean_output_dir_not_there(self):
+        retention = ()
         test_directory = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
                                       'does_not_exist')
-        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory)
+        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory, retention)
         self.assertFalse(os.path.exists(test_directory))
 
     def test_clean_output_dir_is_file(self):
+        retention = ()
         test_directory = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
                                       'this_is_a_file')
         f = open(test_directory, 'w')
         f.write('')
         f.close()
-        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory)
+        utils.clean_output_dir(test_directory, retention)
         self.assertFalse(os.path.exists(test_directory))
 
     def test_strftime(self):
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index fea7b953..2c70ae8c 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -298,8 +298,8 @@ def copy(path, source, destination, destination_path=None, overwrite=False):
         logger.warning('skipped copy %s to %s' % (source_, destination_))
 
 
-def clean_output_dir(path):
-    """Remove all the files from the output directory"""
+def clean_output_dir(path, retention):
+    """Remove all files from output directory except those in retention list"""
 
     if not os.path.exists(path):
         logger.debug("Directory already removed: %s" % path)
@@ -312,10 +312,13 @@ def clean_output_dir(path):
             logger.error("Unable to delete file %s; %s" % (path, str(e)))
         return
 
-    # remove all the existing content from the output folder
+    # remove existing content from output folder unless in retention list
     for filename in os.listdir(path):
         file = os.path.join(path, filename)
-        if os.path.isdir(file):
+        if any(filename == retain for retain in retention):
+            logger.debug("Skipping deletion; %s is on retention list: %s" \
+                         % (filename, file))
+        elif os.path.isdir(file):
             try:
                 shutil.rmtree(file)
                 logger.debug("Deleted directory %s" % file)