diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index c7ea3d5808..bcb2f238c3 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 * Upgrade CoffeeScript from 1.5.0 to 1.6.2.  #972
 
+* `Email.send` has a new `headers` option to set arbitrary headers.  #963
+
 * The `localstorage-polyfill` smart package has been replaced by a
   `localstorage` package, which defines a `Meteor._localStorage` API instead of
   trying to replace the DOM `window.localStorage` facility. (Now, apps can use
@@ -22,7 +24,7 @@
 
 * Support `appcache` on Chromium.  #958
 
-Patches contributed by GitHub user awwx.
+Patches contributed by GitHub users awwx and spang.
 
 ## v0.6.2.1
 
diff --git a/docs/client/api.js b/docs/client/api.js
index cc0b3266f2..7f6bea72c2 100644
--- a/docs/client/api.js
+++ b/docs/client/api.js
@@ -1804,6 +1804,10 @@ Template.api.email_send = {
     {name: "html",
      type: "String",
      descr: rfc('mail body (HTML)')
+    },
+    {name: "headers",
+     type: "Object",
+     descr: rfc('custom headers (dictionary)')
     }
   ]
 };
diff --git a/packages/email/email.js b/packages/email/email.js
index d092305e68..497ba51701 100644
--- a/packages/email/email.js
+++ b/packages/email/email.js
@@ -85,12 +85,12 @@ var smtpSend = function (mc) {
  * @param options.subject {String} RFC5322 "Subject:" line
  * @param options.text {String} RFC5322 mail body (plain text)
  * @param options.html {String} RFC5322 mail body (HTML)
+ * @param options.headers {Object} custom RFC5322 headers (dictionary)
  */
 Email.send = function (options) {
   var mc = new MailComposer();
 
   // setup message data
-  // XXX support arbitrary headers
   // XXX support attachments (once we have a client/server-compatible binary
   //     Buffer class)
   mc.setMessageOption({
@@ -104,6 +104,10 @@ Email.send = function (options) {
     html: options.html
   });
 
+  _.each(options.headers, function (value, name) {
+    mc.addHeader(name, value);
+  });
+
   maybeMakePool();
 
   if (smtpPool) {
diff --git a/packages/email/email_tests.js b/packages/email/email_tests.js
index 8327ce8aa8..b6fcf3026f 100644
--- a/packages/email/email_tests.js
+++ b/packages/email/email_tests.js
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ Tinytest.add("email - dev mode smoke test", function (test) {
       to: "bar@example.com",
       cc: ["friends@example.com", "enemies@example.com"],
       subject: "This is the subject",
-      text: "This is the body\nof the message\nFrom us."
+      text: "This is the body\nof the message\nFrom us.",
+      headers: {'X-Meteor-Test': 'a custom header'}
     });
     // Note that we use the local "stream" here rather than Email._output_stream
     // in case a concurrent test run mutates Email._output_stream too.
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ Tinytest.add("email - dev mode smoke test", function (test) {
     test.equal(stream.getContentsAsString("utf8"),
                "====== BEGIN MAIL #0 ======\n" + 
                "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n" +
+               "X-Meteor-Test: a custom header\r\n" +
                "From: foo@example.com\r\n" +
                "To: bar@example.com\r\n" +
                "Cc: friends@example.com, enemies@example.com\r\n" +