diff --git a/django/http/__init__.py b/django/http/__init__.py
index bcb06cbb87c..fe3b9896633 100644
--- a/django/http/__init__.py
+++ b/django/http/__init__.py
@@ -212,18 +212,22 @@ class HttpResponse(object):
 
     status_code = 200
 
-    def __init__(self, content='', mimetype=None, status=None):
+    def __init__(self, content='', mimetype=None, status=None,
+            content_type=None):
         from django.conf import settings
         self._charset = settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET
-        if not mimetype:
-            mimetype = "%s; charset=%s" % (settings.DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE, settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
+        if mimetype:
+            content_type = mimetype     # For backwards compatibility
+        if not content_type:
+            content_type = "%s; charset=%s" % (settings.DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE,
+                    settings.DEFAULT_CHARSET)
         if not isinstance(content, basestring) and hasattr(content, '__iter__'):
             self._container = content
             self._is_string = False
         else:
             self._container = [content]
             self._is_string = True
-        self.headers = {'Content-Type': mimetype}
+        self.headers = {'Content-Type': content_type}
         self.cookies = SimpleCookie()
         if status:
             self.status_code = status
diff --git a/docs/request_response.txt b/docs/request_response.txt
index a17a60ff177..826065981ba 100644
--- a/docs/request_response.txt
+++ b/docs/request_response.txt
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ hard-coded strings. If you use this technique, follow these guidelines:
 Methods
 -------
 
-``__init__(content='', mimetype=DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE)``
+``__init__(content='', mimetype=None, status=200, content_type=DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE)``
     Instantiates an ``HttpResponse`` object with the given page content (a
     string) and MIME type. The ``DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE`` is ``'text/html'``.
 
@@ -350,6 +350,16 @@ Methods
     return strings, and those strings will be joined together to form the
     content of the response.
 
+    ``status`` is the `HTTP Status code`_ for the response.
+
+    **(New in Django development version)** ``content_type`` is an alias for
+    ``mimetype``. Historically, the parameter was only called ``mimetype``,
+    but since this is actually the value included in the HTTP ``Content-Type``
+    header, it can also include the character set encoding, which makes it
+    more than just a MIME type specification. If ``mimetype`` is specifiedi
+    (not None), that value is used.  Otherwise, ``content_type`` is used. If
+    neither is given, the ``DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE`` setting is used.
+
 ``__setitem__(header, value)``
     Sets the given header name to the given value. Both ``header`` and
     ``value`` should be strings.
@@ -396,6 +406,8 @@ Methods
 ``write(content)``, ``flush()`` and ``tell()``
     These methods make an ``HttpResponse`` instance a file-like object.
 
+.. _HTTP Status code: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html#sec10
+
 HttpResponse subclasses
 -----------------------