diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 128ae280ec..92bd4f6938 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 recursive-include setuptools *.py *.exe *.xml
 recursive-include tests *.py
 recursive-include setuptools/tests *.html
-recursive-include docs *.py *.txt *.conf *.css *.css_t Makefile indexsidebar.html
+recursive-include docs *.py *.txt *.rst *.conf *.css *.css_t Makefile indexsidebar.html
 recursive-include setuptools/_vendor *.py *.txt
 recursive-include pkg_resources *.py *.txt
 recursive-include pkg_resources/tests/data *
diff --git a/changelog.d/2477.misc.rst b/changelog.d/2477.misc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48900e9da2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/2477.misc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Restore inclusion of rst files in sdist.