diff --git a/django/utils/feedgenerator.py b/django/utils/feedgenerator.py
index 5ec20f6664..15476f8b0f 100644
--- a/django/utils/feedgenerator.py
+++ b/django/utils/feedgenerator.py
@@ -27,13 +27,15 @@ import datetime
 import urlparse
 from django.utils.xmlutils import SimplerXMLGenerator
 from django.utils.encoding import force_unicode, iri_to_uri
+from django.utils import datetime_safe
 
 def rfc2822_date(date):
     # We can't use strftime() because it produces locale-dependant results, so
     # we have to map english month and day names manually
     months = ('Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec',)
     days = ('Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat', 'Sun')
-
+    # Support datetime objects older than 1900
+    date = datetime_safe.new_datetime(date)
     # We do this ourselves to be timezone aware, email.Utils is not tz aware.
     dow = days[date.weekday()]
     month = months[date.month - 1]
@@ -47,6 +49,8 @@ def rfc2822_date(date):
         return time_str + '-0000'
 
 def rfc3339_date(date):
+    # Support datetime objects older than 1900
+    date = datetime_safe.new_datetime(date)
     if date.tzinfo:
         time_str = date.strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S')
         offset = date.tzinfo.utcoffset(date)
@@ -71,7 +75,7 @@ def get_tag_uri(url, date):
 
     d = ''
     if date is not None:
-        d = ',%s' % date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
+        d = ',%s' % datetime_safe.new_datetime(date).strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
     return u'tag:%s%s:%s/%s' % (hostname, d, path, fragment)
 
 class SyndicationFeed(object):
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/syndication/fixtures/feeddata.json b/tests/regressiontests/syndication/fixtures/feeddata.json
index 4a5c02297a..167115c925 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/syndication/fixtures/feeddata.json
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/syndication/fixtures/feeddata.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     "pk": 1,
     "fields": {
       "title": "My first entry",
-      "date": "2008-01-01 12:30:00"
+      "date": "1850-01-01 12:30:00"
     }
   },
   {