diff --git a/pkg/backup/item_backupper.go b/pkg/backup/item_backupper.go
index b29c8545c..902d22fcd 100644
--- a/pkg/backup/item_backupper.go
+++ b/pkg/backup/item_backupper.go
@@ -217,6 +217,9 @@ func (ib *defaultItemBackupper) backupItem(logger logrus.FieldLogger, obj runtim
 		return kubeerrs.NewAggregate(backupErrs)
 	}
 	obj = updatedObj
+	if metadata, err = meta.Accessor(obj); err != nil {
+		return errors.WithStack(err)
+	}
 
 	if groupResource == kuberesource.PersistentVolumes {
 		if ib.blockStore == nil {
diff --git a/pkg/backup/item_backupper_test.go b/pkg/backup/item_backupper_test.go
index 2e2c16900..67eadc5c0 100644
--- a/pkg/backup/item_backupper_test.go
+++ b/pkg/backup/item_backupper_test.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/heptio/ark/pkg/apis/ark/v1"
 	api "github.com/heptio/ark/pkg/apis/ark/v1"
+	resticmocks "github.com/heptio/ark/pkg/restic/mocks"
 	"github.com/heptio/ark/pkg/util/collections"
 	arktest "github.com/heptio/ark/pkg/util/test"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -618,6 +619,74 @@ func TestItemActionModificationsToItemPersist(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.EqualValues(t, expected.Object, actual)
 }
 
+func TestResticAnnotationsPersist(t *testing.T) {
+	var (
+		w   = &fakeTarWriter{}
+		obj = &unstructured.Unstructured{
+			Object: map[string]interface{}{
+				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
+					"namespace": "myns",
+					"name":      "bar",
+					"annotations": map[string]interface{}{
+						"backup.ark.heptio.com/backup-volumes": "volume-1,volume-2",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		}
+		actions = []resolvedAction{
+			{
+				ItemAction:                &addAnnotationAction{},
+				namespaceIncludesExcludes: collections.NewIncludesExcludes(),
+				resourceIncludesExcludes:  collections.NewIncludesExcludes(),
+				selector:                  labels.Everything(),
+			},
+		}
+		resticBackupper = &resticmocks.Backupper{}
+		b               = (&defaultItemBackupperFactory{}).newItemBackupper(
+			&v1.Backup{},
+			collections.NewIncludesExcludes(),
+			collections.NewIncludesExcludes(),
+			make(map[itemKey]struct{}),
+			actions,
+			nil,
+			w,
+			nil,
+			&arktest.FakeDynamicFactory{},
+			arktest.NewFakeDiscoveryHelper(true, nil),
+			nil,
+			resticBackupper,
+			newPVCSnapshotTracker(),
+		).(*defaultItemBackupper)
+	)
+
+	resticBackupper.
+		On("BackupPodVolumes", mock.Anything, mock.Anything, mock.Anything).
+		Return(map[string]string{"volume-1": "snapshot-1", "volume-2": "snapshot-2"}, nil)
+
+	// our expected backed-up object is the passed-in object, plus the annotation
+	// that the backup item action adds, plus the annotations that the restic
+	// backupper adds
+	expected := obj.DeepCopy()
+	annotations := expected.GetAnnotations()
+	if annotations == nil {
+		annotations = make(map[string]string)
+	}
+	annotations["foo"] = "bar"
+	annotations["snapshot.ark.heptio.com/volume-1"] = "snapshot-1"
+	annotations["snapshot.ark.heptio.com/volume-2"] = "snapshot-2"
+	expected.SetAnnotations(annotations)
+
+	// method under test
+	require.NoError(t, b.backupItem(arktest.NewLogger(), obj, schema.ParseGroupResource("pods")))
+
+	// get the actual backed-up item
+	require.Len(t, w.data, 1)
+	actual, err := arktest.GetAsMap(string(w.data[0]))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.EqualValues(t, expected.Object, actual)
+}
+
 func TestTakePVSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
 	iops := int64(1000)
 
diff --git a/pkg/restic/mocks/backupper.go b/pkg/restic/mocks/backupper.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..feb716740
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/restic/mocks/backupper.go
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Code generated by mockery v1.0.0
+package mocks
+
+import corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+import logrus "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+import mock "github.com/stretchr/testify/mock"
+
+import v1 "github.com/heptio/ark/pkg/apis/ark/v1"
+
+// Backupper is an autogenerated mock type for the Backupper type
+type Backupper struct {
+	mock.Mock
+}
+
+// BackupPodVolumes provides a mock function with given fields: backup, pod, log
+func (_m *Backupper) BackupPodVolumes(backup *v1.Backup, pod *corev1.Pod, log logrus.FieldLogger) (map[string]string, []error) {
+	ret := _m.Called(backup, pod, log)
+
+	var r0 map[string]string
+	if rf, ok := ret.Get(0).(func(*v1.Backup, *corev1.Pod, logrus.FieldLogger) map[string]string); ok {
+		r0 = rf(backup, pod, log)
+	} else {
+		if ret.Get(0) != nil {
+			r0 = ret.Get(0).(map[string]string)
+		}
+	}
+
+	var r1 []error
+	if rf, ok := ret.Get(1).(func(*v1.Backup, *corev1.Pod, logrus.FieldLogger) []error); ok {
+		r1 = rf(backup, pod, log)
+	} else {
+		if ret.Get(1) != nil {
+			r1 = ret.Get(1).([]error)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return r0, r1
+}