6 files changed, 90 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/src/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml
index 6da5920..2350392 100644
--- a/src/changes/changes.xml
+++ b/src/changes/changes.xml
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@
         Throw a prettier exception when maxing out the row size during row
         creation.
       </action>
+      <action dev="jahlborn" type="update" system="SourceForge2" issue="128">
+        Add some utility methods (DatabaseBuilder.createDateFormat and
+        DatabaseBuilder.toCompatibleCalendar) for handling Dates in an Access
+        compatible manner.
+      </action>
       <action dev="jahlborn" type="update">
         New site style!
       </action>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseBuilder.java b/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseBuilder.java
index aa81855..c5e0252 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseBuilder.java
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.channels.FileChannel;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.util.Calendar;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.TimeZone;
@@ -302,4 +306,28 @@ public class DatabaseBuilder
   {
     return new DatabaseBuilder(mdbFile).setFileFormat(fileFormat).create();
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a SimpleDateFormat for the given format string which is
+   * configured with a compatible Calendar instance (see
+   * {@link #toCompatibleCalendar}).
+   */
+  public static SimpleDateFormat createDateFormat(String formatStr) {
+    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(formatStr);
+    toCompatibleCalendar(sdf.getCalendar());
+    return sdf;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Ensures that the given {@link Calendar} is configured to be compatible
+   * with how Access handles dates.  Specifically, alters the gregorian change
+   * (the java default gregorian change switches to julian dates for dates pre
+   * 1582-10-15, whereas Access uses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proleptic_Gregorian_calendar">proleptic gregorian dates</a>).
+   */
+  public static Calendar toCompatibleCalendar(Calendar cal) {
+    if(cal instanceof GregorianCalendar) {
+      ((GregorianCalendar)cal).setGregorianChange(new Date(Long.MIN_VALUE));
+    }
+    return cal;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/DatabaseImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/DatabaseImpl.java
index 26a7f1b..1984dc3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/DatabaseImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/DatabaseImpl.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Cursor;
 import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.CursorBuilder;
 import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.DataType;
 import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.Database;
+import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.DatabaseBuilder;
 import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.IndexBuilder;
 import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.IndexCursor;
 import com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.PropertyMap;
@@ -702,10 +703,10 @@ public class DatabaseImpl implements Database
   /**
    * @usage _advanced_method_
    */
-  Calendar getCalendar()
-  {
+  Calendar getCalendar() {
     if(_calendar == null) {
-      _calendar = Calendar.getInstance(_timeZone);
+      _calendar = DatabaseBuilder.toCompatibleCalendar(
+          Calendar.getInstance(_timeZone));
     }
     return _calendar;
   }
diff --git a/src/test/data/V2007/oldDatesV2007.accdb b/src/test/data/V2007/oldDatesV2007.accdb
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0e96b91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/data/V2007/oldDatesV2007.accdb
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseTest.java b/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseTest.java
index 918271a..5b0aff6 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/DatabaseTest.java
@@ -681,6 +681,57 @@ public class DatabaseTest extends TestCase
     }
   }
 
+  public void testAncientDates() throws Exception
+  {
+    TimeZone tz = TimeZone.getTimeZone("America/New_York");
+    SimpleDateFormat sdf = DatabaseBuilder.createDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
+    sdf.getCalendar().setTimeZone(tz);
+    
+    List<String> dates = Arrays.asList("1582-10-15", "1582-10-14", 
+                                       "1492-01-10", "1392-01-10");
+
+
+    for (final FileFormat fileFormat : SUPPORTED_FILEFORMATS) {
+      Database db = createMem(fileFormat);
+      db.setTimeZone(tz);
+
+      Table table = new TableBuilder("test")
+        .addColumn(new ColumnBuilder("name", DataType.TEXT))
+        .addColumn(new ColumnBuilder("date", DataType.SHORT_DATE_TIME))
+        .toTable(db);
+
+      for(String dateStr : dates) {
+        Date d = sdf.parse(dateStr);
+        table.addRow("row " + dateStr, d);
+      }
+       
+      List<String> foundDates = new ArrayList<String>();
+      for(Row row : table) {
+        foundDates.add(sdf.format(row.getDate("date")));
+      }
+
+      assertEquals(dates, foundDates);
+
+      db.close();
+    }
+
+    for (final TestDB testDB : TestDB.getSupportedForBasename(Basename.OLD_DATES)) {
+      Database db = openCopy(testDB);
+
+      Table t = db.getTable("Table1");
+
+      List<String> foundDates = new ArrayList<String>();
+      for(Row row : t) {
+        foundDates.add(sdf.format(row.getDate("DateField")));
+      }
+
+      assertEquals(dates, foundDates);
+
+      db.close();
+    }
+
+  }
+
   public void testSystemTable() throws Exception
   {
     for (final FileFormat fileFormat : SUPPORTED_FILEFORMATS) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/JetFormatTest.java b/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/JetFormatTest.java
index f84cc16..e8a5287 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/JetFormatTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/impl/JetFormatTest.java
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ public class JetFormatTest extends TestCase {
     LINKED("linkerTest"),
     BLOB("testOle"),
     CALC_FIELD("calcFieldTest"),
-    BINARY_INDEX("binIdxTest");
+    BINARY_INDEX("binIdxTest"),
+    OLD_DATES("oldDates");
 
     private final String _basename;