diff --git a/openmc/lib/tally.py b/openmc/lib/tally.py
index dc782539bc..5ddee90e49 100644
--- a/openmc/lib/tally.py
+++ b/openmc/lib/tally.py
@@ -396,6 +396,7 @@ class _TallyMapping(Mapping):
         except (AllocationError, InvalidIDError) as e:
             # __contains__ expects a KeyError to work correctly
             raise KeyError(str(e))
+        return Tally(index=index.value)
 
     def __iter__(self):
         for i in range(len(self)):
@@ -411,4 +412,14 @@ class _TallyMapping(Mapping):
         """Delete a tally from tally vector and remove the ID,index pair from tally"""
         _dll.openmc_remove_tally(self[key]._index)
 
+    def _get_tally_index(self,key):
+        """Given the ID, return the index"""
+        index = c_int32()
+        try:
+            _dll.openmc_get_tally_index(key, index)
+        except (AllocationError, InvalidIDError) as e:
+            # __contains__ expects a KeyError to work correctly
+            raise KeyError(str(e))
+        return index.value
+
 tallies = _TallyMapping()