diff --git a/django/views/generic/date_based.py b/django/views/generic/date_based.py
index e6a75e63aa..a745559819 100644
--- a/django/views/generic/date_based.py
+++ b/django/views/generic/date_based.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from django.http import Http404, HttpResponse
 
 def archive_index(request, queryset, date_field, num_latest=15,
         template_name=None, template_loader=loader,
-        extra_context=None, allow_empty=False, context_processors=None,
+        extra_context=None, allow_empty=True, context_processors=None,
         mimetype=None, allow_future=False, template_object_name='latest'):
     """
     Generic top-level archive of date-based objects.
diff --git a/django/views/generic/list_detail.py b/django/views/generic/list_detail.py
index b72173bd76..617a6443a2 100644
--- a/django/views/generic/list_detail.py
+++ b/django/views/generic/list_detail.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from django.core.paginator import ObjectPaginator, InvalidPage
 from django.core.exceptions import ObjectDoesNotExist
 
 def object_list(request, queryset, paginate_by=None, page=None,
-        allow_empty=False, template_name=None, template_loader=loader,
+        allow_empty=True, template_name=None, template_loader=loader,
         extra_context=None, context_processors=None, template_object_name='object',
         mimetype=None):
     """
diff --git a/docs/generic_views.txt b/docs/generic_views.txt
index 08ff01c372..17187894c0 100644
--- a/docs/generic_views.txt
+++ b/docs/generic_views.txt
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ a date in the *future* are not included unless you set ``allow_future`` to
     * ``allow_empty``: A boolean specifying whether to display the page if no
       objects are available. If this is ``False`` and no objects are available,
       the view will raise a 404 instead of displaying an empty page. By
-      default, this is ``False``.
+      default, this is ``True``.
 
     * ``context_processors``: A list of template-context processors to apply to
       the view's template. See the `RequestContext docs`_.
@@ -718,7 +718,7 @@ A page representing a list of objects.
     * ``allow_empty``: A boolean specifying whether to display the page if no
       objects are available. If this is ``False`` and no objects are available,
       the view will raise a 404 instead of displaying an empty page. By
-      default, this is ``False``.
+      default, this is ``True``.
 
     * ``context_processors``: A list of template-context processors to apply to
       the view's template. See the `RequestContext docs`_.