diff --git a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/SelectedLocale.java b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/SelectedLocale.java
index ce2bb147d..f044546e0 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/SelectedLocale.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/i18n/selection/SelectedLocale.java
@@ -91,7 +91,9 @@ public abstract class SelectedLocale {
 			}
 		}
 
-		return null;
+		Locale fallbackLocale = getFallbackLocale();
+        log.debug("Using fallback locale as default: " + fallbackLocale);
+        return fallbackLocale;
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -134,7 +136,17 @@ public abstract class SelectedLocale {
 			return preferredLocal;
 		}
 
-		return null;
+		Locale fallbackLocale = getFallbackLocale();
+		log.debug("Using fallback locale as default: " + fallbackLocale);
+		return fallbackLocale;
+	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * @return a default locale to use if no other criteria for selecting a 
+	 * different one exist.
+	 */
+	public static Locale getFallbackLocale() {
+	    return new Locale("en", "US");
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java
index 171067426..acaa93fb6 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/RDFFilesLoader.java
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ public class RDFFilesLoader {
 			enabledLocales.add(locale.toLanguageTag().replace('-', '_'));
 		}
 
-		// If no languages were enabled in runtime.properties, add 'en_US' as the default
+		// If no languages were enabled in runtime.properties, add a fallback as the default
 		if (enabledLocales.isEmpty()) {
-			enabledLocales.add("en_US");
+			enabledLocales.add(SelectedLocale.getFallbackLocale().toString());
 		}
 
 		return enabledLocales;