diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/FileGraphSetup.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/FileGraphSetup.java
index 257edd9cf..a58a52386 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/FileGraphSetup.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/FileGraphSetup.java
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ public class FileGraphSetup implements ServletContextListener {
         
         boolean isIsomorphic = dbModel.isIsomorphicWith(fileModel);
         
-        if (dbModel.isEmpty() ) {
+        if (dbModel.isEmpty()  && !fileModel.isEmpty()) {
             dbModel.add(fileModel);
             modelChanged = true;
         } else if (!isIsomorphic) {