diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index e4fe769258..1c89255826 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Changelog
 2.1 (xx.xx.xxxx) - IN DEVELOPMENT
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+ * Persist tab hash in URL to allow direct navigation to tabs in the admin interface (Ben Weatherman)
  * Fix: Status button on 'edit page' now links to the correct URL when live and draft slug differ (LB (Ben Johnston))
  * Fix: Image title text in the gallery and in the chooser now wraps for long filenames (LB (Ben Johnston), Luiz Boaretto)
 
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS.rst b/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
index 84e70d9707..23b2e9da1e 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
@@ -273,6 +273,7 @@ Contributors
 * Mary Kate Fain
 * Dário Marcelino
 * Dave Bell
+* Ben Weatherman
 
 Translators
 ===========
diff --git a/docs/releases/2.1.rst b/docs/releases/2.1.rst
index 98c769b7ca..15ee5d2a2f 100644
--- a/docs/releases/2.1.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/2.1.rst
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ What's new
 Other features
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+* Persist tab hash in URL to allow direct navigation to tabs in the admin interface (Ben Weatherman)
 
 Bug fixes
 ~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/wagtail/admin/static_src/wagtailadmin/js/core.js b/wagtail/admin/static_src/wagtailadmin/js/core.js
index eef2672bf4..2ca27b1eaa 100644
--- a/wagtail/admin/static_src/wagtailadmin/js/core.js
+++ b/wagtail/admin/static_src/wagtailadmin/js/core.js
@@ -173,9 +173,14 @@ $(function() {
     });
 
     /* tabs */
+    if (window.location.hash) {
+      $('a[href="' + window.location.hash + '"]').tab('show');
+    }
+
     $(document).on('click', '.tab-nav a', function(e) {
-        e.preventDefault();
-        $(this).tab('show');
+      e.preventDefault();
+      $(this).tab('show');
+      window.history.replaceState(null, null, $(this).attr('href'));
     });
 
     $(document).on('click', '.tab-toggle', function(e) {