diff --git a/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py b/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
index a46b9fa..8c048d0 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_xmlrpc.py
@@ -55,6 +55,17 @@
         (newdt,), m = xmlrpclib.loads(s, use_datetime=0)
         self.assertEquals(newdt, xmlrpclib.DateTime('20050210T11:41:23'))
 
+    def test_datetime_before_1900(self):
+        # same as before but with an date before 1900
+        dt = datetime.datetime(1, 02, 10, 11, 41, 23)
+        s = xmlrpclib.dumps((dt,))
+        (newdt,), m = xmlrpclib.loads(s, use_datetime=1)
+        self.assertEquals(newdt, dt)
+        self.assertEquals(m, None)
+
+        (newdt,), m = xmlrpclib.loads(s, use_datetime=0)
+        self.assertEquals(newdt, xmlrpclib.DateTime('00010210T11:41:23'))
+
     def test_cmp_datetime_DateTime(self):
         now = datetime.datetime.now()
         dt = xmlrpclib.DateTime(now.timetuple())
diff --git a/Lib/xmlrpclib.py b/Lib/xmlrpclib.py
index d99f5d7..d635a4e 100644
--- a/Lib/xmlrpclib.py
+++ b/Lib/xmlrpclib.py
@@ -346,6 +346,20 @@
 # @param value The time, given as an ISO 8601 string, a time
 #              tuple, or a integer time value.
 
+def _strftime(value):
+    if datetime:
+        if isinstance(value, datetime.datetime):
+            return "%04d%02d%02dT%02d:%02d:%02d" % (
+                value.year, value.month, value.day,
+                value.hour, value.minute, value.second)
+
+    if not isinstance(value, (TupleType, time.struct_time)):
+        if value == 0:
+            value = time.time()
+        value = time.localtime(value)
+
+    return "%04d%02d%02dT%02d:%02d:%02d" % value[:6]
+
 class DateTime:
     """DateTime wrapper for an ISO 8601 string or time tuple or
     localtime integer value to generate 'dateTime.iso8601' XML-RPC
@@ -353,16 +367,10 @@
     """
 
     def __init__(self, value=0):
-        if not isinstance(value, StringType):
-            if datetime and isinstance(value, datetime.datetime):
-                self.value = value.strftime("%Y%m%dT%H:%M:%S")
-                return
-            if not isinstance(value, (TupleType, time.struct_time)):
-                if value == 0:
-                    value = time.time()
-                value = time.localtime(value)
-            value = time.strftime("%Y%m%dT%H:%M:%S", value)
-        self.value = value
+        if isinstance(value, StringType):
+            self.value = value
+        else:
+            self.value = _strftime(value)
 
     def make_comparable(self, other):
         if isinstance(other, DateTime):
@@ -772,7 +780,7 @@
     if datetime:
         def dump_datetime(self, value, write):
             write("<value><dateTime.iso8601>")
-            write(value.strftime("%Y%m%dT%H:%M:%S"))
+            write(_strftime(value))
             write("</dateTime.iso8601></value>\n")
         dispatch[datetime.datetime] = dump_datetime