diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 8477475..c200f48 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ export(text)
 export(title)
 export(view)
 export(view_info)
+export(whatDate)
+export(whatVersion)
 export(xlab)
 export(xlim)
 export(ylab)
diff --git a/R/access-gsplot.R b/R/access-gsplot.R
index f3ddc2b..5996a56 100644
--- a/R/access-gsplot.R
+++ b/R/access-gsplot.R
@@ -258,4 +258,28 @@ view_info <- function(object){
   viewInfo$y.side.defined.by.user <- viewInfo$y %in% defined.sides
   
   return(viewInfo)
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+#' Get gsplot object creation date.
+#' 
+#' Get the date that this gsplot object was originally created.
+#' 
+#' @param object a gsplot object
+#' @return The date the gsplot object was created.
+#' @export
+whatDate <- function(object){
+  date_created <- object$metadata$created
+  return(date_created)
+}
+
+#' Get gsplot version used.
+#' 
+#' Get the version number that was used to create this gsplot object.
+#' 
+#' @param object a gsplot object
+#' @return The gsplot version number.
+#' @export
+whatVersion <- function(object){
+  version_created <- object$metadata$gsplot.version
+  return(version_created)
+}
diff --git a/R/gsplot-class.R b/R/gsplot-class.R
index add8a18..9dc6810 100644
--- a/R/gsplot-class.R
+++ b/R/gsplot-class.R
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 #' Used to change the class of inputs to "gsplot".
 #'
 #' @param x list
+#' @param created vector of length one giving the date the gsplot object was created. Defaults to 
+#' using \code{Sys.Date()}. Output class matches that of the input.
+#' @param gsplot.version vector of length one giving the version of the gsplot package used to create the
+#' object. Defaults to calling \code{packageDescription()}. Output class matches that of the input.
 #' @param config.file path to the file that will only be used for setting 
 #' par in this one gsplot object. If \code{NA} (default), par is set by the global options set by
 #' loadConfig().
@@ -19,8 +23,13 @@ gsplot <- function(x = NULL, ...) UseMethod("gsplot")
 
 #' @rdname gsplot
 #' @export
-gsplot.default <- function(...,config.file=NA, theme=NA, frame.plot=TRUE) {
-  object <- gsplot(list(global=list('config'=list(frame.plot=frame.plot, 
+gsplot.default <- function(..., created=Sys.Date(), 
+                           gsplot.version=packageDescription(getPackageName(), 
+                                                             fields = "Version"),
+                           config.file=NA, theme=NA, frame.plot=TRUE) {
+  object <- gsplot(list(metadata=list(created=created,
+                                      gsplot.version=gsplot.version),
+                        global=list('config'=list(frame.plot=frame.plot, 
                                                   config.file=!is.na(config.file),
                                                   theme=!is.na(theme)))))
 
diff --git a/man/gsplot.Rd b/man/gsplot.Rd
index d5ceed7..cc94069 100644
--- a/man/gsplot.Rd
+++ b/man/gsplot.Rd
@@ -8,14 +8,21 @@
 \usage{
 gsplot(x = NULL, ...)
 
-\method{gsplot}{default}(..., config.file = NA, theme = NA,
-  frame.plot = TRUE)
+\method{gsplot}{default}(..., created = Sys.Date(),
+  gsplot.version = packageDescription("gsplot", fields = "Version"),
+  config.file = NA, theme = NA, frame.plot = TRUE)
 
 \method{gsplot}{list}(x)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{x}{list}
 
+\item{created}{vector of length one giving the date the gsplot object was created. Defaults to 
+using \code{Sys.Date()}. Output class matches that of the input.}
+
+\item{gsplot.version}{vector of length one giving the version of the gsplot package used to create the
+object. Defaults to calling \code{packageDescription()}. Output class matches that of the input.}
+
 \item{config.file}{path to the file that will only be used for setting 
 par in this one gsplot object. If \code{NA} (default), par is set by the global options set by
 loadConfig().}
diff --git a/man/whatDate.Rd b/man/whatDate.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38c0988
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/whatDate.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/access-gsplot.R
+\name{whatDate}
+\alias{whatDate}
+\title{Get gsplot object creation date.}
+\usage{
+whatDate(object)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{object}{a gsplot object}
+}
+\value{
+The date the gsplot object was created.
+}
+\description{
+Get the date that this gsplot object was originally created.
+}
+
diff --git a/man/whatVersion.Rd b/man/whatVersion.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab01de7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/whatVersion.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/access-gsplot.R
+\name{whatVersion}
+\alias{whatVersion}
+\title{Get gsplot version used.}
+\usage{
+whatVersion(object)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{object}{a gsplot object}
+}
+\value{
+The gsplot version number.
+}
+\description{
+Get the version number that was used to create this gsplot object.
+}
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-access_gsplot.R b/tests/testthat/test-access_gsplot.R
index 463006b..9147c94 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-access_gsplot.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-access_gsplot.R
@@ -141,3 +141,16 @@ test_that("summary ",{
     points(x=3:10,y=4:11, side=c(1,2), log='xy')
   expect_output(summary(usrDef),regexp = "2 views:")
 })
+
+test_that("users can access metadata", {
+  gs <- gsplot()
+  expect_equal(whatDate(gs), Sys.Date())
+  
+  old.version <- "0.5.2"
+  gs2 <- gsplot(gsplot.version=old.version)
+  expect_equal(whatVersion(gs2), old.version)
+  
+  old.date <- as.Date("2010-10-21")
+  gs3 <- gsplot(created=old.date)
+  expect_equal(whatDate(gs3), old.date)
+})
diff --git a/tests/testthat/tests-axis.R b/tests/testthat/tests-axis.R
index 984e07a..7ac0729 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/tests-axis.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/tests-axis.R
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ test_that("axis",{
 test_that("axis gsplot",{
   gs = points(gsplot(mar=c(1,1,1,1)), c(-2,3), c(-1,5)) %>% 
     axis(3)
-  expect_true(all(names(gs) %in% c("side.1", "side.2", "side.3", "view.1.2", "global")))
+  expect_true(all(names(gs) %in% c("side.1", "side.2", "side.3", 
+                                   "view.1.2", "global", "metadata")))
   
   gs <- gsplot() %>%
      lines(1:5, c(1,10,100,1000,10000), log="y", axes=FALSE) %>%