diff --git a/bagit/bagger.js b/bagit/bagger.js
index 69c39911e..68fd11978 100644
--- a/bagit/bagger.js
+++ b/bagit/bagger.js
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ class Bagger extends EventEmitter {
                 // Wait until entire directory is added before
                 // attaching finish listener, else queue will
                 // drain more than once.
+                this.formatWriter.directories[relDestPath] = stats;
                 await this._addDirectory(absPath, relDestPath, stats);
             }
         }
@@ -285,6 +286,8 @@ class Bagger extends EventEmitter {
             let relDestPath = bagger._getRelDestPath(fullPath);
             if (entry.fileStat.isFile()) {
                 bagger._addFile(fullPath, relDestPath, entry.fileStat);
+            } else if (entry.fileStat.isDirectory()) {
+                bagger.formatWriter.directories[relDestPath] = entry.fileStat;
             }
         });
         fsReader.on('error', function(err) {
diff --git a/bagit/bagger.test.js b/bagit/bagger.test.js
index d38886e2d..d15619c3d 100644
--- a/bagit/bagger.test.js
+++ b/bagit/bagger.test.js
@@ -61,6 +61,10 @@ test('create() with one dir', done => {
             console.log(result.errors)
         }
 
+        // DEBUG
+        // console.log(bagger.formatWriter.directories)
+        // DEBUG
+
         expect(result.errors.length).toEqual(0);
         expect(result.succeeded()).toEqual(true);
         expect(result.started).not.toBeNull();
diff --git a/plugins/formats/write/base_writer.js b/plugins/formats/write/base_writer.js
index 8bc6a301a..1364e4541 100644
--- a/plugins/formats/write/base_writer.js
+++ b/plugins/formats/write/base_writer.js
@@ -106,6 +106,16 @@ class BaseWriter extends Plugin {
          * @type {number}
          */
         this.filesWritten = 0;
+
+        /**
+         * This is a map of directory stats. Key is relDestPath,
+         * value is fs.Stats object. For example, key will be
+         * "/data/subdir". Value will be the stats of the original
+         * directory being bagged. This allows us to preserve directory
+         * attributes such as uid, gid, mode, and mtime when creating
+         * tar files.
+         */
+        this.directories = {};
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/plugins/formats/write/tar_writer.js b/plugins/formats/write/tar_writer.js
index e7e903797..c692f10b3 100644
--- a/plugins/formats/write/tar_writer.js
+++ b/plugins/formats/write/tar_writer.js
@@ -104,10 +104,21 @@ class TarWriter extends BaseWriter {
         let dir = '';
         for (let i=0; i < parts.length -1; i++) {
             dir = dir + parts[i] + '/';
+            // We cached the stats for the directory in the
+            // directories map. The key is relDestPath, minus
+            // the bag name, with no traling slash. E.g. key for
+            // "MyBag/data/subdir/" is "/data/subdir".
+            var key = ""
+            if (i > 0) {
+                key = dir.split("/").slice(1).join("/").replace(/\/$/, "")
+            }
             if (!this._directoriesAdded.has(dir)) {
-                let data = Object.assign({}, template);
+                var data = this.directories[key]
+                if (!data) {
+                    data = Object.assign({}, template);
+                    data.mtime = new Date();
+                } 
                 data.relDestPath = dir;
-                data.mtime = new Date();
                 this._mkdir(data);
             }
         }