Software and methods for extending preexisting objects to support persistence. One use of the present invention is to extend component object model (COM) objects to support persistence in a simple, predefined system. COM objects may be saved to persistence storage and loaded from persistence storage using user-provided save and load methods. When objects are constructed, the objects are added to a Persistent Object Registry. Objects preferably utilize smart pointers, rather than simple pointers, in order to enable restoration of the pointer values after a save and load cycle. The smart pointers include an object ID along with the address. The object ID, together with the information stored in the Persistent Object Registry, may be used to restore a pointer value after loading. Objects may be saved by streaming the objects out and loaded by streaming the objects back into memory from a file.