diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/FileUploadServletRequest.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/FileUploadServletRequest.java
index 97de7b787..2e3be3253 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/FileUploadServletRequest.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/FileUploadServletRequest.java
@@ -27,6 +27,14 @@ import org.apache.commons.fileupload.servlet.ServletFileUpload;
  * request parameters.
  * </p>
  * <p>
+ * The request will have an attribute named by {@link #FILE_ITEM_MAP}. Either
+ * this attribute or the call to {@link #getFiles()} will produce a map that may
+ * be empty but is never null. The keys to the map are the field names for the
+ * file fields. Since a form may have multiple fields with the same name, each
+ * field name maps to a list of items. If a user does not provide a file to be
+ * uploaded in a given field, the length of the file will be 0.
+ * </p>
+ * <p>
  * Most methods are declared here, and simply delegate to the wrapped request.
  * Methods that have to do with parameters or files are handled differently for
  * simple requests and multipart request, and are implemented in the
@@ -35,6 +43,8 @@ import org.apache.commons.fileupload.servlet.ServletFileUpload;
  */
 @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
 public abstract class FileUploadServletRequest implements HttpServletRequest {
+	public static final String FILE_ITEM_MAP = "file_item_map";
+
 	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 	// The factory method
 	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/MultipartHttpServletRequest.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/MultipartHttpServletRequest.java
index 217a43a5c..2fbe92f1f 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/MultipartHttpServletRequest.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/MultipartHttpServletRequest.java
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ class MultipartHttpServletRequest extends FileUploadServletRequest {
 		LOG.debug("Parameters are: " + this.parameters);
 		this.files = Collections.unmodifiableMap(files);
 		LOG.debug("Files are: " + this.files);
+		request.setAttribute(FILE_ITEM_MAP, this.files);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper.java
index 48fb249ed..11f90360d 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/uploadrequest/SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper extends FileUploadServletRequest {
 
 	SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper(HttpServletRequest request) {
 		super(request);
+		request.setAttribute(FILE_ITEM_MAP, Collections.EMPTY_MAP);
 	}
 
 	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ class SimpleHttpServletRequestWrapper extends FileUploadServletRequest {
 	public Map<String, List<FileItem>> getFiles() {
 		return Collections.emptyMap();
 	}
-	
+
 	@Override
 	public FileItem getFileItem(String string) {
 		return null;