diff --git a/WebCore/ChangeLog b/WebCore/ChangeLog
index 6270e2a8be99a48df52e7d12b71c5240dae26be2..08e06b90e7dec047f055ca2ddcf2234d10524625 100644
--- a/WebCore/ChangeLog
+++ b/WebCore/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,18 @@
+2008-05-05  Brady Eidson  <beidson@apple.com>
+
+        Reviewed by Mitz Pettel RTL
+
+        Preparation for upcoming work making LocalStorage persistent.
+
+        StorageMaps normally have copy-on-write semantics to help support SessionStorage.
+        For LocalStorage, we never want this behavior.  When we forcefully import items into 
+        a StorageMap from the LocalStorage background thread, this new import method will be used.
+
+        * storage/StorageMap.cpp:
+        (WebCore::StorageMap::importItem): Add a deep-copy of the item to the map without worrying
+          about copy-on-write.
+        * storage/StorageMap.h:
+
 2008-05-05  Kevin McCullough  <kmccullough@apple.com>
 
         Reviewed by Tim.
diff --git a/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.cpp b/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.cpp
index b134d70e8cbfb7ff5e5ce19cf0b1d9777ffbd3fa..880fc93b1c3ccdbc34e7bdf49db3879c112a470a 100644
--- a/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.cpp
+++ b/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.cpp
@@ -145,4 +145,14 @@ bool StorageMap::contains(const String& key) const
     return m_map.contains(key);
 }
 
+void StorageMap::importItem(const String& key, const String& value) const
+{
+    // Be sure to copy the keys/values as items imported on a background thread are destined
+    // to cross a thread boundary
+    pair<HashMap<String, String>::iterator, bool> result = m_map.add(key.copy(), String());
+
+    if (result.second)
+        result.first->second = value.copy();
+}
+
 }
diff --git a/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.h b/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.h
index 5cf2834409ad03397cbe76d658fd8f1133172020..d5d00a9e1375eb01e7a79c115b6729f902e35e09 100644
--- a/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.h
+++ b/WebCore/storage/StorageMap.h
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ namespace WebCore {
 
         bool contains(const String& key) const;
 
+        void importItem(const String& key, const String& value) const;
+
     private:
         StorageMap();
         PassRefPtr<StorageMap> copy();