diff --git a/lib/py/README b/lib/py/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdd2ef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/py/README
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Thrift Python Software Library
+
+Author: Mark Slee (mcslee@facebook.com)
+Last Modified: 2007-Mar-05
+
+Thrift is distributed under the Thrift open source software license.
+Please see the included LICENSE file.
+
+Using Thrift with Python
+========================
+
+Thrift is provided as a set of Python packages. The top level package is
+thrift, and there are subpackages for the protocol, transport, and server
+code. Each package contains modules using standard Thrift naming conventions
+(i.e. TProtocol, TTransport) and implementations in corresponding modules
+(i.e. TSocket).
+
+The Python libraries can be installed manually using the provided setup.py
+file, or automatically using the install hook provided via autoconf/automake.
+To use the latter, become superuser and do make install.
diff --git a/lib/py/cleanup.sh b/lib/py/cleanup.sh
index d026a46..bbbcef5 100755
--- a/lib/py/cleanup.sh
+++ b/lib/py/cleanup.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 Makefile.in \
 Makefile.orig \
 NEWS \
-README \
 aclocal.m4 \
 autom4te.cache \
 autoscan.log \