diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 22eb85297..e84f9a003 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -106,7 +106,9 @@ module ApplicationHelper
       {
         type: :smart_annotation_added,
         title: sanitize_input(title),
-        subject: subject,
+        subject_id: subject.id,
+        subject_class: subject.class.name,
+        subject_name: subject.respond_to?(:name) && subject.name,
         user: target_user
       }
     )
diff --git a/app/notifications/general_notification.rb b/app/notifications/general_notification.rb
index 67674175b..f74c2a298 100644
--- a/app/notifications/general_notification.rb
+++ b/app/notifications/general_notification.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ class GeneralNotification < BaseNotification
   end
 
   def subject
-    params[:subject]
+    subject_class = params[:subject_class].constantize
+    subject_class.find(params[:subject_id])
+  rescue NameError, ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
+    NonExistantRecord.new(params[:subject_name])
   end
 end