diff --git a/docs/themes.rst b/docs/themes.rst
index 8362ec70..b029e816 100644
--- a/docs/themes.rst
+++ b/docs/themes.rst
@@ -253,6 +253,29 @@ page_name               TAG_URL where everything after `{slug}` is removed
                         -- useful for pagination links
 ===================     ===================================================
 
+period_archives.html
+--------------------
+
+This template will be processed for each year of your posts if a path
+for YEAR_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS is defined, each month if MONTH_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS
+is defined and each day if DAY_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS is defined.
+
+===================     ===================================================
+Variable                Description
+===================     ===================================================
+period                  A tuple of the form (`year`, `month`, `day`) that
+                        indicates the current time period. `year` and `day`
+                        are numbers while `month` is a string. This tuple
+                        only contains `year` if the time period is a
+                        given year. It contains both `year` and `month`
+                        if the time period is over years and months and
+                        so on.
+
+===================     ===================================================
+
+You can see an example of how to use `period` in the ``simple`` theme's
+period_archives.html
+
 Feeds
 =====
 
diff --git a/pelican/generators.py b/pelican/generators.py
index 758747e0..8c5f446b 100644
--- a/pelican/generators.py
+++ b/pelican/generators.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import random
 import logging
 import shutil
 import fnmatch
+import calendar
 
 from codecs import open
 from collections import defaultdict
@@ -279,6 +280,18 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
         except Exception:
             template = self.get_template('archives')
 
+        period_save_as = {
+            'year': self.settings['YEAR_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
+            'month': self.settings['MONTH_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
+            'day': self.settings['DAY_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
+        }
+
+        period_date_key = {
+            'year': attrgetter('date.year'),
+            'month': attrgetter('date.year', 'date.month'),
+            'day': attrgetter('date.year', 'date.month', 'date.day')
+        }
+
         def _generate_period_archives(dates, key, save_as_fmt):
             """Generate period archives from `dates`, grouped by
             `key` and written to `save_as`.
@@ -291,21 +304,21 @@ class ArticlesGenerator(Generator):
                 # period archive dates
                 date = archive[0].date
                 save_as = save_as_fmt.format(date=date)
-                write(save_as, template, self.context,
+                context = self.context.copy()
+
+                if key == period_date_key['year']:
+                    context["period"] = (_period,)
+                elif key == period_date_key['month']:
+                    context["period"] = (_period[0],
+                                         calendar.month_name[_period[1]])
+                else:
+                    context["period"] = (_period[0],
+                                         calendar.month_name[_period[1]],
+                                         _period[2])
+
+                write(save_as, template, context,
                       dates=archive, blog=True)
 
-        period_save_as = {
-            'year': self.settings['YEAR_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
-            'month': self.settings['MONTH_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
-            'day': self.settings['DAY_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'],
-        }
-
-        period_date_key = {
-            'year': attrgetter('date.year'),
-            'month': attrgetter('date.year', 'date.month'),
-            'day': attrgetter('date.year', 'date.month', 'date.day')
-        }
-
         for period in 'year', 'month', 'day':
             save_as = period_save_as[period]
             if save_as:
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
index 150d30f5..eddaa504 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
@@ -197,6 +197,66 @@ class TestArticlesGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn(custom_template, self.articles)
         self.assertIn(standard_template, self.articles)
 
+    def test_period_in_timeperiod_archive(self):
+        """
+        Test that the context of a generated period_archive is passed
+        'period' : a tuple of year, month, day according to the time period
+        """
+        settings = get_settings(filenames={})
+
+        settings['YEAR_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'] = 'posts/{date:%Y}/index.html'
+        generator = ArticlesGenerator(
+            context=settings, settings=settings,
+            path=CONTENT_DIR, theme=settings['THEME'], output_path=None)
+        generator.generate_context()
+        write = MagicMock()
+        generator.generate_period_archives(write)
+        dates = [d for d in generator.dates if d.date.year == 1970]
+        self.assertEqual(len(dates), 1)
+        #among other things it must have at least been called with this
+        settings["period"] = (1970,)
+        write.assert_called_with("posts/1970/index.html",
+                                 generator.get_template("period_archives"),
+                                 settings,
+                                 blog=True, dates=dates)
+
+        del settings["period"]
+        settings['MONTH_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'] = 'posts/{date:%Y}/{date:%b}/index.html'
+        generator = ArticlesGenerator(
+            context=settings, settings=settings,
+            path=CONTENT_DIR, theme=settings['THEME'], output_path=None)
+        generator.generate_context()
+        write = MagicMock()
+        generator.generate_period_archives(write)
+        dates = [d for d in generator.dates if d.date.year == 1970
+                                            and d.date.month == 1]
+        self.assertEqual(len(dates), 1)
+        settings["period"] = (1970, "January")
+        #among other things it must have at least been called with this
+        write.assert_called_with("posts/1970/Jan/index.html",
+                                 generator.get_template("period_archives"),
+                                 settings,
+                                 blog=True, dates=dates)
+
+        del settings["period"]
+        settings['DAY_ARCHIVE_SAVE_AS'] = 'posts/{date:%Y}/{date:%b}/{date:%d}/index.html'
+        generator = ArticlesGenerator(
+            context=settings, settings=settings,
+            path=CONTENT_DIR, theme=settings['THEME'], output_path=None)
+        generator.generate_context()
+        write = MagicMock()
+        generator.generate_period_archives(write)
+        dates = [d for d in generator.dates if d.date.year == 1970
+                                            and d.date.month == 1
+                                            and d.date.day == 1]
+        self.assertEqual(len(dates), 1)
+        settings["period"] = (1970, "January", 1)
+        #among other things it must have at least been called with this
+        write.assert_called_with("posts/1970/Jan/01/index.html",
+                                 generator.get_template("period_archives"),
+                                 settings,
+                                 blog=True, dates=dates)
+
 
 class TestPageGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
     # Note: Every time you want to test for a new field; Make sure the test
diff --git a/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/period_archives.html b/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/period_archives.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..252e002f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pelican/themes/notmyidea/templates/period_archives.html
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{% extends "base.html" %}
+{% block content %}
+<section id="content" class="body">
+<h1>Archives for {{ period | reverse | join(' ') }}</h1>
+
+<dl>
+{% for article in dates %}
+    <dt>{{ article.locale_date }}</dt>
+    <dd><a href="{{ SITEURL }}/{{ article.url }}">{{ article.title }}</a></dd>
+{% endfor %}
+</dl>
+</section>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/pelican/themes/simple/templates/period_archives.html b/pelican/themes/simple/templates/period_archives.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d930dbbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pelican/themes/simple/templates/period_archives.html
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{% extends "base.html" %}
+{% block content %}
+<h1>Archives for {{ period | reverse | join(' ') }}</h1>
+
+<dl>
+{% for article in dates %}
+    <dt>{{ article.locale_date }}</dt>
+    <dd><a href="{{ SITEURL }}/{{ article.url }}">{{ article.title }}</a></dd>
+{% endfor %}
+</dl>
+{% endblock %}