diff --git a/app/components/DatasetComponent.tsx b/app/components/DatasetComponent.tsx
index 01901870..33e2c62d 100644
--- a/app/components/DatasetComponent.tsx
+++ b/app/components/DatasetComponent.tsx
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import BodyContainer from '../containers/BodyContainer'
 import StructureContainer from '../containers/StructureContainer'
 import ParseError from './ParseError'
 import ReadmeContainer from '../containers/ReadmeContainer'
+import ReadmeHistoryContainer from '../containers/ReadmeHistoryContainer'
 import { CSSTransition } from 'react-transition-group'
 import SpinnerWithIcon from './chrome/SpinnerWithIcon'
 
@@ -65,7 +66,9 @@ const DatasetComponent: React.FunctionComponent<DatasetComponentProps> = (props:
           appear={true}
         >
           <div className='transition-wrap'>
-            <ReadmeContainer />
+            {history
+              ? <ReadmeHistoryContainer />
+              : <ReadmeContainer />}
           </div>
         </CSSTransition>
         <CSSTransition
diff --git a/app/components/ReadmeHistory.tsx b/app/components/ReadmeHistory.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2be38f36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/components/ReadmeHistory.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import * as React from 'react'
+
+interface ReadmeHistoryProps {
+  peername: string
+  name: string
+  path: string
+}
+
+const ReadmeHistory: React.FunctionComponent<ReadmeHistoryProps> = (props) => {
+  const { peername, name, path } = props
+  const divElem = React.useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
+  React.useEffect(() => {
+    fetch(`http://localhost:2503/render/${peername}/${name}/at/${path}`)
+      .then(async (res) => res.text())
+      .then((render) => {
+        if (divElem && divElem.current) {
+          divElem.current.innerHTML = render
+        }
+      })
+  }, [peername, name, path])
+  return (
+    <div
+      // use "editor-preview" class to piggie-back off the simplemde styling
+      className="editor-preview"
+      ref={divElem}
+    >loading...
+    </div>
+  )
+}
+
+export default ReadmeHistory
diff --git a/app/containers/ReadmeContainer.tsx b/app/containers/ReadmeContainer.tsx
index 3c0a14ab..45ed7943 100644
--- a/app/containers/ReadmeContainer.tsx
+++ b/app/containers/ReadmeContainer.tsx
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ const mapStateToProps = (state: Store) => {
   }
 }
 
-const mergeProps = (props: any, actions: any): ReadmeProps => {
+const mergeProps = (props: any, actions: any): ReadmeProps => { //eslint-disable-line
   return { ...props, ...actions }
 }
 
diff --git a/app/containers/ReadmeHistoryContainer.tsx b/app/containers/ReadmeHistoryContainer.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1938692f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/containers/ReadmeHistoryContainer.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import { connect } from 'react-redux'
+import ReadmeHistory from '../components/ReadmeHistory'
+import Store from '../models/store'
+
+const mapStateToProps = (state: Store) => {
+  const { selections } = state
+
+  const { peername, name, commit } = selections
+
+  // get data for the currently selected component
+  return {
+    peername,
+    path: commit,
+    name
+  }
+}
+
+export default connect(mapStateToProps)(ReadmeHistory)
diff --git a/app/reducers/commitDetail.ts b/app/reducers/commitDetail.ts
index 871d31d8..4fede233 100644
--- a/app/reducers/commitDetail.ts
+++ b/app/reducers/commitDetail.ts
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ const initialState: CommitDetails = {
   status: {},
   isLoading: true,
   components: {
-    readme: {
-      value: ''
-    },
     body: {
       value: [],
       pageInfo: initialPageInfo
@@ -54,9 +51,6 @@ const commitDetailsReducer: Reducer = (state = initialState, action: AnyAction):
         published,
         isLoading: false,
         components: {
-          readme: {
-            value: dataset && dataset.readme ? atob(dataset.readme.scriptBytes) : ''
-          },
           body: initialState.components.body,
           meta: {
             value: dataset.meta