diff --git a/app/helpers/blacklight/blacklight_helper_behavior.rb b/app/helpers/blacklight/blacklight_helper_behavior.rb
index 4e680e843f..65d8359c1b 100644
--- a/app/helpers/blacklight/blacklight_helper_behavior.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/blacklight/blacklight_helper_behavior.rb
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def document_has_value? document, field_config
   # @param [Blacklight::SolrResponse] response
   # @return [Boolean]
   def should_show_spellcheck_suggestions? response
-    response.total <= spell_check_max and response.spelling.words.size > 0
+    response.total <= spell_check_max and response.spelling and response.spelling.words.size > 0
   end
 
   ##
diff --git a/blacklight.gemspec b/blacklight.gemspec
index 526a5749cb..b70f1f8a19 100644
--- a/blacklight.gemspec
+++ b/blacklight.gemspec
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency "rsolr",     "~> 1.0.11"  # Library for interacting with rSolr.
   s.add_dependency "bootstrap-sass", "~> 3.2"
   s.add_dependency "deprecation"
+  s.add_dependency "elasticsearch-model"
+  s.add_dependency "elasticsearch-rails"
+  s.add_dependency "elasticsearch-persistence"
 
   s.add_development_dependency "jettywrapper", ">= 1.7.0"
   s.add_development_dependency "blacklight-marc", "~> 5.0"
diff --git a/lib/blacklight.rb b/lib/blacklight.rb
index 9e74840841..0b2aa401e0 100644
--- a/lib/blacklight.rb
+++ b/lib/blacklight.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 require 'kaminari'
 require 'deprecation'
 require 'blacklight/utils'
-
+require 'elasticsearch'
 module Blacklight
   autoload :Configurable, 'blacklight/configurable'
   autoload :Configuration, 'blacklight/configuration'
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ module Blacklight
   
   autoload :SolrResponse, 'blacklight/solr_response'
   autoload :Facet, 'blacklight/facet'
+  
+  autoload :Elasticsearch,       'blacklight/elasticsearch'
 
   extend SearchFields
   extend Deprecation
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ def self.solr
   end
 
   def self.default_index
-    @default_index ||=  Blacklight::SolrRepository.new(Blacklight::Configuration.new)
+    @default_index ||= repository_class.new(default_configuration)
   end
 
   def self.solr_config
@@ -77,6 +79,21 @@ def self.solr_config
     connection_config
   end
 
+  def self.repository_class
+    case connection_config[:adapter]
+    when "elasticsearch"
+      Blacklight::Elasticsearch::Repository
+    when "solr"
+      Blacklight::SolrRepository
+    else
+      raise "No connection adapter found"
+    end
+  end
+
+  def self.default_configuration
+    @default_configuration ||= Blacklight::Configuration.new
+  end
+
   def self.connection_config
     @connection_config ||= begin
         raise "The #{::Rails.env} environment settings were not found in the blacklight.yml config" unless blacklight_yml[::Rails.env]
diff --git a/lib/blacklight/catalog/search_context.rb b/lib/blacklight/catalog/search_context.rb
index b3d518370d..d5cee2f0bd 100644
--- a/lib/blacklight/catalog/search_context.rb
+++ b/lib/blacklight/catalog/search_context.rb
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ def setup_next_and_previous_documents
     end
   rescue Blacklight::Exceptions::InvalidRequest => e
     logger.warn "Unable to setup next and previous documents: #{e}"
+  rescue Elasticsearch::Transport::Transport::Errors::BadRequest => e
+    logger.warn "Unable to setup next and previous documents: #{e}"
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/lib/blacklight/routes.rb b/lib/blacklight/routes.rb
index c2414b52fb..a2f1b35930 100644
--- a/lib/blacklight/routes.rb
+++ b/lib/blacklight/routes.rb
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def solr_document(primary_resource)
           args = {only: [:show]}
           args[:constraints] = options[:constraints] if options[:constraints]
 
-          resources :solr_document, args.merge(path: primary_resource, controller: primary_resource) do
+          resources :elasticsearch_document, args.merge(path: primary_resource, controller: primary_resource) do
             member do
               post "track"
             end
diff --git a/lib/generators/blacklight/templates/catalog_controller.rb b/lib/generators/blacklight/templates/catalog_controller.rb
index c7486e5722..8d72f2caa1 100644
--- a/lib/generators/blacklight/templates/catalog_controller.rb
+++ b/lib/generators/blacklight/templates/catalog_controller.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
 # -*- encoding : utf-8 -*-
-class <%= controller_name.classify %>Controller < ApplicationController  
+class CatalogController < ApplicationController  
+  include Blacklight::Marc::Catalog
 
   include Blacklight::Catalog
 
+  self.search_params_logic = true
+
   configure_blacklight do |config|
+
+    config.repository_class = Blacklight::Elasticsearch::Repository
+    config.document_model = ElasticsearchDocument
+    config.search_builder_class = Blacklight::Elasticsearch::SearchBuilder
+
     ## Default parameters to send to solr for all search-like requests. See also SearchBuilder#processed_parameters
     config.default_solr_params = { 
       :qt => 'search',
@@ -54,13 +62,13 @@ class <%= controller_name.classify %>Controller < ApplicationController
     #
     # :show may be set to false if you don't want the facet to be drawn in the 
     # facet bar
-    config.add_facet_field 'format', :label => 'Format'
+    config.add_facet_field 'format', :label => 'Format', field: 'format.raw'
     config.add_facet_field 'pub_date', :label => 'Publication Year', :single => true
-    config.add_facet_field 'subject_topic_facet', :label => 'Topic', :limit => 20 
-    config.add_facet_field 'language_facet', :label => 'Language', :limit => true 
-    config.add_facet_field 'lc_1letter_facet', :label => 'Call Number' 
-    config.add_facet_field 'subject_geo_facet', :label => 'Region' 
-    config.add_facet_field 'subject_era_facet', :label => 'Era'  
+    config.add_facet_field 'subject_topic_facet', :label => 'Topic', :limit => 20, field: 'subject_topic_facet.raw' 
+    config.add_facet_field 'language_facet', :label => 'Language', :limit => true , field: 'language_facet.raw'
+    config.add_facet_field 'lc_1letter_facet', :label => 'Call Number' , field: 'lc_1letter_facet.raw'
+    config.add_facet_field 'subject_geo_facet', :label => 'Region' , field: 'subject_geo_facet.raw'
+    config.add_facet_field 'subject_era_facet', :label => 'Era'  , field: 'subject_era_facet.raw'
 
     config.add_facet_field 'example_pivot_field', :label => 'Pivot Field', :pivot => ['format', 'language_facet']
 
@@ -124,54 +132,31 @@ class <%= controller_name.classify %>Controller < ApplicationController
     # since we aren't specifying it otherwise. 
     
     config.add_search_field 'all_fields', :label => 'All Fields'
-    
 
     # Now we see how to over-ride Solr request handler defaults, in this
     # case for a BL "search field", which is really a dismax aggregate
     # of Solr search fields. 
     
-    config.add_search_field('title') do |field|
-      # solr_parameters hash are sent to Solr as ordinary url query params. 
-      field.solr_parameters = { :'spellcheck.dictionary' => 'title' }
-
-      # :solr_local_parameters will be sent using Solr LocalParams
-      # syntax, as eg {! qf=$title_qf }. This is neccesary to use
-      # Solr parameter de-referencing like $title_qf.
-      # See: http://wiki.apache.org/solr/LocalParams
-      field.solr_local_parameters = { 
-        :qf => '$title_qf',
-        :pf => '$title_pf'
-      }
-    end
+    config.add_search_field('title', template: { 
+      query: ({ match: { title_t: "{{q}}" } })
+    })
     
-    config.add_search_field('author') do |field|
-      field.solr_parameters = { :'spellcheck.dictionary' => 'author' }
-      field.solr_local_parameters = { 
-        :qf => '$author_qf',
-        :pf => '$author_pf'
-      }
-    end
+    config.add_search_field('author', template: { 
+      query: ({ match: { author_t: "{{q}}" } })
+    })
     
-    # Specifying a :qt only to show it's possible, and so our internal automated
-    # tests can test it. In this case it's the same as 
-    # config[:default_solr_parameters][:qt], so isn't actually neccesary. 
-    config.add_search_field('subject') do |field|
-      field.solr_parameters = { :'spellcheck.dictionary' => 'subject' }
-      field.qt = 'search'
-      field.solr_local_parameters = { 
-        :qf => '$subject_qf',
-        :pf => '$subject_pf'
-      }
-    end
+    config.add_search_field('subject', template: { 
+      query: ({ match: { subject_t: "{{q}}" } })
+    })
 
     # "sort results by" select (pulldown)
     # label in pulldown is followed by the name of the SOLR field to sort by and
     # whether the sort is ascending or descending (it must be asc or desc
     # except in the relevancy case).
-    config.add_sort_field 'score desc, pub_date_sort desc, title_sort asc', :label => 'relevance'
-    config.add_sort_field 'pub_date_sort desc, title_sort asc', :label => 'year'
-    config.add_sort_field 'author_sort asc, title_sort asc', :label => 'author'
-    config.add_sort_field 'title_sort asc, pub_date_sort desc', :label => 'title'
+    config.add_sort_field 'relevance', sort: [{"_score" => { order: "desc" }}, {"pub_date_sort.raw" => { order: "desc"}}, { "title_sort.raw" => { order: "asc"}}], :label => 'relevance'
+    config.add_sort_field 'year', sort: [{"pub_date_sort.raw" => { order: "desc"}}, { "title_sort.raw" => { order: "asc"}}], :label => 'year'
+    config.add_sort_field 'author', sort: [{"author_sort.raw" => { order: "asc"}}, { "title_sort.raw" => { order: "asc"}}], :label => 'author'
+    config.add_sort_field 'title', sort: [{ "title_sort.raw" => { order: "asc"}}, {"pub_date_sort.raw" => { order: "desc"}}], :label => 'title'
 
     # If there are more than this many search results, no spelling ("did you 
     # mean") suggestion is offered.
diff --git a/lib/railties/blacklight.rake b/lib/railties/blacklight.rake
index 028eb7ad71..aca01289eb 100644
--- a/lib/railties/blacklight.rake
+++ b/lib/railties/blacklight.rake
@@ -12,11 +12,23 @@ namespace :blacklight do
 
   namespace :index do
     desc "Put sample data into solr"
-    task :seed do
-      docs = YAML::load(File.open(File.join(Blacklight.root, 'solr', 'sample_solr_documents.yml')))
-      conn = Blacklight.default_index.connection
-      conn.add docs
-      conn.commit
+    task :seed, [:file] => [:environment] do |t, args|
+      args.with_defaults(file: File.join(Blacklight.root, 'solr', 'sample_solr_documents.yml'))
+
+      docs = YAML::load(File.open(args[:file]))
+
+      case Blacklight.default_index
+      when Blacklight::Elasticsearch::Repository
+        ElasticsearchDocument.create_index! force: true
+        docs.each do |h|
+          ElasticsearchDocument.new(h.except('timestamp')).save
+        end
+      when Blacklight::SolrRepository
+        conn = Blacklight.default_index.connection
+
+        conn.add docs
+        conn.commit
+      end
     end
   end