diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go
index bb16abe4300..318bea86d6a 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured.go
@@ -73,11 +73,24 @@ func (obj *Unstructured) UnstructuredContent() map[string]interface{} {
 	}
 	return obj.Object
 }
+
+// UnstructuredContent returns a map contain an overlay of the Items field onto
+// the Object field. Items always overwrites overlay. Changing "items" in the
+// returned object will affect items in the underlying Items field, but changing
+// the "items" slice itself will have no effect.
+// TODO: expose SetUnstructuredContent on runtime.Unstructured that allows
+// items to be changed.
 func (obj *UnstructuredList) UnstructuredContent() map[string]interface{} {
-	if obj.Object == nil {
-		obj.Object = make(map[string]interface{})
+	out := obj.Object
+	if out == nil {
+		out = make(map[string]interface{})
 	}
-	return obj.Object
+	items := make([]interface{}, len(obj.Items))
+	for i, item := range obj.Items {
+		items[i] = item.Object
+	}
+	out["items"] = items
+	return out
 }
 
 // MarshalJSON ensures that the unstructured object produces proper
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..54596629db5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured/unstructured_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package unstructured
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestUnstructuredList(t *testing.T) {
+	list := &UnstructuredList{
+		Object: map[string]interface{}{"kind": "List", "apiVersion": "v1"},
+		Items: []*Unstructured{
+			{Object: map[string]interface{}{"kind": "Pod", "apiVersion": "v1", "metadata": map[string]interface{}{"name": "test"}}},
+		},
+	}
+	content := list.UnstructuredContent()
+	items := content["items"].([]interface{})
+	if len(items) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected items: %#v", items)
+	}
+	if getNestedField(items[0].(map[string]interface{}), "metadata", "name") != "test" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected fields: %#v", items[0])
+	}
+}