diff --git a/django/conf/global_settings.py b/django/conf/global_settings.py
index c958e38863..59edbcec70 100644
--- a/django/conf/global_settings.py
+++ b/django/conf/global_settings.py
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
 # notifications and other various e-mails.
 MANAGERS = ADMINS
 
+# Default MIME type to use for all HttpResponse objects, if a MIME type
+# isn't manually specified. This is directly used as the Content-Type header.
+DEFAULT_MIME_TYPE = 'text/html; charset=utf-8'
+
 # E-mail address that error messages come from.
 SERVER_EMAIL = 'root@localhost'
 
diff --git a/django/utils/httpwrappers.py b/django/utils/httpwrappers.py
index 8b50688f66..f4a7c54f0c 100644
--- a/django/utils/httpwrappers.py
+++ b/django/utils/httpwrappers.py
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@ from Cookie import SimpleCookie
 from pprint import pformat
 from urllib import urlencode
 import datastructures
-
-DEFAULT_MIME_TYPE = 'text/html'
+from django.conf.settings import DEFAULT_MIME_TYPE
 
 class HttpRequest(object): # needs to be new-style class because subclasses define "property"s
     "A basic HTTP request"
diff --git a/django/views/admin/main.py b/django/views/admin/main.py
index 225920edea..a7e826d209 100644
--- a/django/views/admin/main.py
+++ b/django/views/admin/main.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ def get_query_string(original_params, new_params={}, remove=[]):
 def index(request):
     t = template_loader.get_template('index')
     c = Context(request, {'title': 'Site administration'})
-    return HttpResponse(t.render(c), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+    return HttpResponse(t.render(c))
 
 def change_list(request, app_label, module_name):
     from django.core import paginator
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ def change_list(request, app_label, module_name):
         'title': (is_popup and 'Select %s' % opts.verbose_name or 'Select %s to change' % opts.verbose_name),
         'is_popup': is_popup,
     })
-    return HttpResponse(t.render(c), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+    return HttpResponse(t.render(c))
 
 def _get_flattened_data(field, val):
     """
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ def add_stage(request, app_label, module_name, show_delete=False, form_url='', p
                 return HttpResponseRedirect(post_url_continue % pk_value)
             if request.POST.has_key("_popup"):
                 return HttpResponse('<script type="text/javascript">opener.dismissAddAnotherPopup(window, %s, "%s");</script>' % \
-                    (pk_value, repr(new_object).replace('"', '\\"')), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+                    (pk_value, repr(new_object).replace('"', '\\"')))
             elif request.POST.has_key("_addanother"):
                 request.user.add_message("%s You may add another %s below." % (msg, opts.verbose_name))
                 return HttpResponseRedirect(request.path)
@@ -851,7 +851,7 @@ def add_stage(request, app_label, module_name, show_delete=False, form_url='', p
     raw_template = _get_template(opts, app_label, add=True, show_delete=show_delete, form_url=form_url)
 #     return HttpResponse(raw_template, mimetype='text/plain')
     t = template_loader.get_template_from_string(raw_template)
-    return HttpResponse(t.render(c), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+    return HttpResponse(t.render(c))
 
 def change_stage(request, app_label, module_name, object_id):
     mod, opts = _get_mod_opts(app_label, module_name)
@@ -976,7 +976,7 @@ def change_stage(request, app_label, module_name, object_id):
     raw_template = _get_template(opts, app_label, change=True)
 #     return HttpResponse(raw_template, mimetype='text/plain')
     t = template_loader.get_template_from_string(raw_template)
-    return HttpResponse(t.render(c), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+    return HttpResponse(t.render(c))
 
 def _nest_help(obj, depth, val):
     current = obj
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ def delete_stage(request, app_label, module_name, object_id):
         "deleted_objects": deleted_objects,
         "perms_lacking": perms_needed,
     })
-    return HttpResponse(t.render(c), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+    return HttpResponse(t.render(c))
 
 def history(request, app_label, module_name, object_id):
     mod, opts = _get_mod_opts(app_label, module_name)
@@ -1110,4 +1110,4 @@ def history(request, app_label, module_name, object_id):
         'module_name': capfirst(opts.verbose_name_plural),
         'object': obj,
     })
-    return HttpResponse(t.render(c), mimetype='text/html; charset=utf-8')
+    return HttpResponse(t.render(c))