diff --git a/examples/pdf-mod-info.cc b/examples/pdf-mod-info.cc
index 84cc8415..e8defa32 100644
--- a/examples/pdf-mod-info.cc
+++ b/examples/pdf-mod-info.cc
@@ -190,8 +190,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 		else
 		{
 		    QTC::TC("examples", "pdf-mod-info file no info");
-		    std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle> vacant;
-		    fileinfo = fileinfo.newDictionary(vacant);
+		    fileinfo = QPDFObjectHandle::newDictionary();
 		    filetrailer.replaceKey("/Info", fileinfo);
 		}
 	    }
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
index d0d911f7..4db0f6fe 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFObjectHandle.cc
@@ -655,8 +655,7 @@ QPDFObjectHandle
 QPDFObjectHandle::newStream(QPDF* qpdf)
 {
     QTC::TC("qpdf", "QPDFObjectHandle newStream");
-    std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle> keys;
-    QPDFObjectHandle stream_dict = newDictionary(keys);
+    QPDFObjectHandle stream_dict = newDictionary();
     QPDFObjectHandle result = qpdf->makeIndirectObject(
 	QPDFObjectHandle(
 	    new QPDF_Stream(qpdf, 0, 0, stream_dict, 0, 0)));
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf-c.cc b/libqpdf/qpdf-c.cc
index 2be301bb..65a5de72 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf-c.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf-c.cc
@@ -340,9 +340,7 @@ void qpdf_set_info_key(qpdf_data qpdf, char const* key, char const* value)
 	QTC::TC("qpdf", "qpdf-c add info to trailer");
 	trailer.replaceKey(
 	    "/Info",
-	    qpdf->qpdf->makeIndirectObject(
-		QPDFObjectHandle::newDictionary(
-		    std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle>())));
+	    qpdf->qpdf->makeIndirectObject(QPDFObjectHandle::newDictionary()));
     }
     else
     {
diff --git a/qpdf/test_driver.cc b/qpdf/test_driver.cc
index d2869317..e7b78c4a 100644
--- a/qpdf/test_driver.cc
+++ b/qpdf/test_driver.cc
@@ -597,9 +597,8 @@ void runtest(int n, char const* filename)
 	QPDFObjectHandle qarray = trailer.getKey("/QArray");
 	// Force qdict but not qarray to resolve
 	qdict.isDictionary();
-	std::map<std::string, QPDFObjectHandle> dict_keys;
-	dict_keys["/NewDict"] = QPDFObjectHandle::newInteger(2);
-	QPDFObjectHandle new_dict = QPDFObjectHandle::newDictionary(dict_keys);
+	QPDFObjectHandle new_dict = QPDFObjectHandle::newDictionary();
+	new_dict.replaceKey("/NewDict", QPDFObjectHandle::newInteger(2));
 	try
 	{
 	    // Do it wrong first...