diff --git a/src/view.js b/src/view.js
index 0b46df21..6dedc111 100644
--- a/src/view.js
+++ b/src/view.js
@@ -318,10 +318,12 @@ my.DataExplorer = Backbone.View.extend({
     var graphState = qs['view-graph'] || qs.graph;
     graphState = graphState ? JSON.parse(graphState) : {};
     var stateData = _.extend({
-        readOnly: false,
         query: query,
         'view-graph': graphState,
-        currentView: null
+        backend: this.model.backend.__type__,
+        dataset: this.model.toJSON(),
+        currentView: null,
+        readOnly: false
       },
       initialState);
     this.state.set(stateData);
@@ -353,16 +355,34 @@ my.DataExplorer = Backbone.View.extend({
         });
       }
     });
-  },
-
-  // ### getState
-  //
-  // Get the current state of dataset and views (see discussion of state above)
-  getState: function() {
-    return this.state;
   }
 });
 
+// ## restore
+//
+// Restore a DataExplorer instance from a serialized state including the associated dataset
+my.DataExplorer.restore = function(state) {
+  // hack-y - restoring a memory dataset does not mean much ...
+  var dataset = null;
+  if (state.backend === 'memory') {
+    dataset = recline.Backend.createDataset(
+      [{stub: 'this is a stub dataset because we do not restore memory datasets'}],
+      [],
+      state.dataset
+    );
+  } else {
+    dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset(
+      state.dataset,
+      state.backend
+    );
+  }
+  var explorer = new my.DataExplorer({
+    model: dataset,
+    state: state
+  });
+  return explorer;
+}
+
 my.QueryEditor = Backbone.View.extend({
   className: 'recline-query-editor', 
   template: ' \
diff --git a/test/view.test.js b/test/view.test.js
index 6a898989..456da7be 100644
--- a/test/view.test.js
+++ b/test/view.test.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ test('basic explorer functionality', function () {
   $el.remove();
 });
 
-test('getState', function () {
+test('get State', function () {
   var $el = $('<div class="test-view-explorer-getstate" />');
   $('.fixtures .data-explorer-here').append($el);
   var dataset = Fixture.getDataset();
@@ -23,11 +23,13 @@ test('getState', function () {
     model: dataset,
     el: $el
   });
-  var state = explorer.getState();
+  var state = explorer.state;
   ok(state.get('query'));
   equal(state.get('readOnly'), false);
   equal(state.get('query').size, 100);
   deepEqual(state.get('view-grid').hiddenFields, []);
+  equal(state.get('backend'), 'memory');
+  ok(state.get('dataset').id !== null);
   $el.remove();
 });
 
@@ -42,8 +44,18 @@ test('initialize state', function () {
       }
     }
   });
-  var state = explorer.getState();
-  ok(state.get('readOnly'));
+  ok(explorer.state.get('readOnly'));
+});
+
+test('restore (from serialized state)', function() {
+  var dataset = Fixture.getDataset();
+  var explorer = new recline.View.DataExplorer({
+    model: dataset,
+  });
+  var state = explorer.state.toJSON();
+  var explorerNew = recline.View.DataExplorer.restore(state);
+  var out = explorerNew.state.toJSON();
+  equal(out.backend, state.backend);
 });
 
 })(this.jQuery);