diff --git a/traits/observers/__init__.py b/traits/observers/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/traits/observers/_i_observer.py b/traits/observers/_i_observer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..61961eece
--- /dev/null
+++ b/traits/observers/_i_observer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# (C) Copyright 2005-2020 Enthought, Inc., Austin, TX
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is provided without warranty under the terms of the BSD
+# license included in LICENSE.txt and may be redistributed only under
+# the conditions described in the aforementioned license. The license
+# is also available online at http://www.enthought.com/licenses/BSD.txt
+#
+# Thanks for using Enthought open source!
+
+import abc
+
+
+class IObserver(abc.ABC):
+    """ Interface for all observers.
+
+    Each instance of ``IObserver`` can be a node in the
+    ``ObserverGraph``. These objects are considered
+    low-level objects not to be instantiated directly by the
+    user. In order to support equality and hashing on the
+    ``ObserverGraph``, ``IObserver`` needs to be hashable
+    and it needs to support comparison for equality.
+    """
+
+    def __hash__(self):
+        """ Return a hash of this object."""
+        raise NotImplementedError("__hash__ must be implemented.")
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        """ Return true if this observer is equal to the given one."""
+        raise NotImplementedError("__eq__ must be implemented.")
diff --git a/traits/observers/_named_trait_observer.py b/traits/observers/_named_trait_observer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6a1612fed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/traits/observers/_named_trait_observer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# (C) Copyright 2005-2020 Enthought, Inc., Austin, TX
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is provided without warranty under the terms of the BSD
+# license included in LICENSE.txt and may be redistributed only under
+# the conditions described in the aforementioned license. The license
+# is also available online at http://www.enthought.com/licenses/BSD.txt
+#
+# Thanks for using Enthought open source!
+
+from traits.observers._i_observer import IObserver
+
+
+@IObserver.register
+class NamedTraitObserver:
+    """ Observer for observing changes on a named trait
+    on an instance of HasTraits.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, *, name, notify):
+        """ Initializer.
+        Once this observer is defined, it should not be mutated.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        name : str
+            Name of the trait to be observed.
+        notify : boolean
+            Whether to notify for changes.
+        """
+        self._name = name
+        self._notify = notify
+
+    @property
+    def name(self):
+        """ Name of trait to observe on any given HasTraits object."""
+        return self._name
+
+    @property
+    def notify(self):
+        """ A boolean for whether this observer will notify
+        for changes.
+        """
+        return self._notify
+
+    def __hash__(self):
+        return hash((type(self), self.name, self.notify))
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        return (
+            type(self) is type(other)
+            and self.name == other.name
+            and self.notify == other.notify
+        )
diff --git a/traits/observers/_observer_graph.py b/traits/observers/_observer_graph.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c6d4c0ed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/traits/observers/_observer_graph.py
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+# (C) Copyright 2005-2020 Enthought, Inc., Austin, TX
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is provided without warranty under the terms of the BSD
+# license included in LICENSE.txt and may be redistributed only under
+# the conditions described in the aforementioned license. The license
+# is also available online at http://www.enthought.com/licenses/BSD.txt
+#
+# Thanks for using Enthought open source!
+
+
+class ObserverGraph:
+    """ An ``ObserverGraph`` is an object for describing what traits are being
+    observed on an instance of ``HasTraits``.
+
+    The most basic unit in a graph is a node, which is a context specific
+    observer. For example, a node can be an observer specialized in
+    changes on a named trait, an observer specialized in
+    changes on a number of traits matching a certain criteria, an observer
+    specialized in mutations on a list, etc.
+
+    The most basic example is an ``ObserverGraph`` that contains only one node,
+    e.g. for observing changes on a named trait.
+
+    An ``ObserverGraph`` can have branches, e.g. to observe more than one trait
+    on a nested object. The attribute ``children`` represents these branches.
+    Each item in ``children`` is another ``ObserverGraph``.
+
+    In order to (1) avoid hooking up a user callback with the same observer
+    twice, and (2) remove an observer when they are not needed, once an
+    ``ObserverGraph`` object is constructed (e.g. after mutating ``children``
+    for constructing branches) and is ready to be used against an instance
+    of ``HasTraits``, it should not be mutated again.
+
+    For the same reason, ``ObserverGraph`` implements ``__hash__`` and
+    ``__eq__`` and requires its nodes to also support these methods.
+
+    An ``ObserverGraph`` does not keep states regarding the HasTraits instances
+    and the user callbacks it was used with. An ``ObserverGraph`` can be
+    reused multiple times on different ``HasTraits`` instance and with
+    different user callback.
+
+    This object is considered a low-level object for the observer mechanism.
+    It is not intended to be instantiated by users directly. Users will be
+    given higher-level wrappers for creating ``ObserverGraph`` objects.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    node : any
+        A context specific observer.
+        It must be a hashable object. In practice, this will be
+        an instance that implements ``IObserver``.
+    children : iterable of ObserverGraph, optional
+        Branches on this graph. All children must be unique.
+
+    Raises
+    ------
+    ValueError
+        If not all children are unique.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, *, node, children=None):
+
+        if children is not None and len(set(children)) != len(children):
+            raise ValueError("Not all children are unique.")
+
+        self.node = node
+        self.children = list(children) if children is not None else []
+
+    def __hash__(self):
+        """ Return the hash of this ObserverGraph."""
+        return hash(
+            (type(self), self.node, frozenset(self.children))
+        )
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        """ Return true if another object is an ObserverGraph with the
+        same content. The order of children is not taken into account
+        in the comparison.
+        """
+        return (
+            type(self) is type(other)
+            and self.node == other.node
+            and set(self.children) == set(other.children)
+        )
diff --git a/traits/observers/tests/__init__.py b/traits/observers/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/traits/observers/tests/test_named_trait_observer.py b/traits/observers/tests/test_named_trait_observer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1adbdd16d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/traits/observers/tests/test_named_trait_observer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+# (C) Copyright 2005-2020 Enthought, Inc., Austin, TX
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is provided without warranty under the terms of the BSD
+# license included in LICENSE.txt and may be redistributed only under
+# the conditions described in the aforementioned license. The license
+# is also available online at http://www.enthought.com/licenses/BSD.txt
+#
+# Thanks for using Enthought open source!
+
+import unittest
+from unittest import mock
+
+from traits.observers._named_trait_observer import (
+    NamedTraitObserver,
+)
+from traits.observers._observer_graph import ObserverGraph
+
+
+class TestNamedTraitObserver(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_not_equal_notify(self):
+        observer1 = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        observer2 = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=False)
+        self.assertNotEqual(observer1, observer2)
+
+    def test_not_equal_name(self):
+        observer1 = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        observer2 = NamedTraitObserver(name="bar", notify=True)
+        self.assertNotEqual(observer1, observer2)
+
+    def test_equal_observers(self):
+        observer1 = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        observer2 = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        self.assertEqual(observer1, observer2)
+        self.assertEqual(hash(observer1), hash(observer2))
+
+    def test_not_equal_type(self):
+        observer = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        imposter = mock.Mock()
+        imposter.name = "foo"
+        imposter.notify = True
+        self.assertNotEqual(observer, imposter)
+
+    def test_name_not_mutable(self):
+        observer = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError) as exception_context:
+            observer.name = "bar"
+        self.assertEqual(
+            str(exception_context.exception), "can't set attribute")
+
+    def test_notify_not_mutable(self):
+        observer = NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True)
+        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError) as exception_context:
+            observer.notify = False
+        self.assertEqual(
+            str(exception_context.exception), "can't set attribute")
+
+
+class TestObserverGraphIntegrateNamedTraitObserver(unittest.TestCase):
+    """ Test integrating ObserverGraph with NamedTraitObserver as nodes.
+    """
+
+    def test_observer_graph_hash_with_named_listener(self):
+        # Test equality + hashing using set passes.
+
+        path1 = ObserverGraph(
+            node=NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True),
+            children=[
+                ObserverGraph(
+                    node=NamedTraitObserver(name="bar", notify=True),
+                ),
+            ],
+        )
+        path2 = ObserverGraph(
+            node=NamedTraitObserver(name="foo", notify=True),
+            children=[
+                ObserverGraph(
+                    node=NamedTraitObserver(name="bar", notify=True),
+                ),
+            ],
+        )
+        # This tests __eq__ and __hash__
+        self.assertEqual(path1, path2)
diff --git a/traits/observers/tests/test_observer_graph.py b/traits/observers/tests/test_observer_graph.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e4b92eba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/traits/observers/tests/test_observer_graph.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# (C) Copyright 2005-2020 Enthought, Inc., Austin, TX
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is provided without warranty under the terms of the BSD
+# license included in LICENSE.txt and may be redistributed only under
+# the conditions described in the aforementioned license. The license
+# is also available online at http://www.enthought.com/licenses/BSD.txt
+#
+# Thanks for using Enthought open source!
+
+import unittest
+
+from traits.observers._observer_graph import ObserverGraph
+
+
+def graph_from_nodes(*nodes):
+    nodes = nodes[::-1]
+    graph = ObserverGraph(node=nodes[0])
+    for node in nodes[1:]:
+        graph = ObserverGraph(node=node, children=[graph])
+    return graph
+
+
+class TestObserverGraph(unittest.TestCase):
+    """ Test generic functions on ObserverGraph."""
+
+    def test_equality(self):
+        graph1 = graph_from_nodes(1, 2, 3)
+        graph2 = graph_from_nodes(1, 2, 3)
+        self.assertEqual(graph1, graph2)
+        self.assertEqual(hash(graph1), hash(graph2))
+
+    def test_equality_different_type(self):
+        graph1 = graph_from_nodes(1, 2, 3)
+        self.assertNotEqual(graph1, 1)
+
+    def test_equality_different_length_children(self):
+        graph1 = ObserverGraph(
+            node=1,
+            children=[
+                ObserverGraph(node=2),
+                ObserverGraph(node=3),
+            ],
+        )
+        graph2 = ObserverGraph(
+            node=1,
+            children=[
+                ObserverGraph(node=2),
+            ],
+        )
+        self.assertNotEqual(graph1, graph2)
+
+    def test_equality_order_of_children(self):
+        # The order of items in children does not matter
+        graph1 = ObserverGraph(
+            node=1,
+            children=[
+                ObserverGraph(node=2),
+                ObserverGraph(node=3),
+            ],
+        )
+        graph2 = ObserverGraph(
+            node=1,
+            children=[
+                ObserverGraph(node=3),
+                ObserverGraph(node=2),
+            ],
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(graph1, graph2)
+        self.assertEqual(hash(graph1), hash(graph2))
+
+    def test_children_ordered(self):
+        child_graph = ObserverGraph(node=2)
+        graph = ObserverGraph(
+            node=1,
+            children=[
+                child_graph,
+                ObserverGraph(node=3),
+            ],
+        )
+        self.assertIs(graph.children[0], child_graph)
+
+    def test_children_unique(self):
+        child_graph = ObserverGraph(node=2)
+
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError) as exception_cm:
+            ObserverGraph(
+                node=1,
+                children=[
+                    child_graph,
+                    ObserverGraph(node=2),
+                ],
+            )
+
+        self.assertEqual(
+            str(exception_cm.exception), "Not all children are unique.")