diff --git a/notebook/nbconvert/handlers.py b/notebook/nbconvert/handlers.py
index bf0a4bfba8..c3cc2462d7 100644
--- a/notebook/nbconvert/handlers.py
+++ b/notebook/nbconvert/handlers.py
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@
 import os
 import zipfile
 
-from tornado import web, escape
+from tornado import gen, web, escape
 from tornado.log import app_log
 
 from ..base.handlers import (
     IPythonHandler, FilesRedirectHandler,
     path_regex,
 )
+from ..utils import maybe_future
 from nbformat import from_dict
 
 from ipython_genutils.py3compat import cast_bytes
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ def content_security_policy(self):
                "; sandbox allow-scripts"
 
     @web.authenticated
+    @gen.coroutine
     def get(self, format, path):
 
         exporter = get_exporter(format, config=self.config, log=self.log)
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ def get(self, format, path):
         else:
             ext_resources_dir = None
 
-        model = self.contents_manager.get(path=path)
+        model = yield maybe_future(self.contents_manager.get(path=path))
         name = model['name']
         if model['type'] != 'notebook':
             # not a notebook, redirect to files
diff --git a/notebook/notebook/handlers.py b/notebook/notebook/handlers.py
index 14f927bef0..638931d6be 100644
--- a/notebook/notebook/handlers.py
+++ b/notebook/notebook/handlers.py
@@ -5,13 +5,17 @@
 
 from collections import namedtuple
 import os
-from tornado import web
+from tornado import (
+    gen, web,
+)
 HTTPError = web.HTTPError
 
 from ..base.handlers import (
     IPythonHandler, FilesRedirectHandler, path_regex,
 )
-from ..utils import url_escape
+from ..utils import (
+    maybe_future, url_escape,
+)
 from ..transutils import _
 
 
@@ -68,6 +72,7 @@ def get_frontend_exporters():
 class NotebookHandler(IPythonHandler):
 
     @web.authenticated
+    @gen.coroutine
     def get(self, path):
         """get renders the notebook template if a name is given, or 
         redirects to the '/files/' handler if the name is not given."""
@@ -76,7 +81,7 @@ def get(self, path):
         
         # will raise 404 on not found
         try:
-            model = cm.get(path, content=False)
+            model = yield maybe_future(cm.get(path, content=False))
         except web.HTTPError as e:
             if e.status_code == 404 and 'files' in path.split('/'):
                 # 404, but '/files/' in URL, let FilesRedirect take care of it