diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.23.0.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.23.0.txt
index ea56ebad7d782..3109798499135 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.23.0.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.23.0.txt
@@ -626,6 +626,7 @@ I/O
 - Bug in :func:`DataFrame.to_parquet` where an exception was raised if the write destination is S3 (:issue:`19134`)
 - :class:`Interval` now supported in :func:`DataFrame.to_excel` for all Excel file types (:issue:`19242`)
 - :class:`Timedelta` now supported in :func:`DataFrame.to_excel` for xls file type (:issue:`19242`, :issue:`9155`)
+- Bug in :meth:`pandas.io.stata.StataReader.value_labels` raising an ``AttributeError`` when called on very old files. Now returns an empty dict (:issue:`19417`)
 
 Plotting
 ^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/pandas/io/stata.py b/pandas/io/stata.py
index adbff06364dbe..ee6975ea1d938 100644
--- a/pandas/io/stata.py
+++ b/pandas/io/stata.py
@@ -1341,12 +1341,14 @@ def _null_terminate(self, s):
                 return s
 
     def _read_value_labels(self):
-        if self.format_version <= 108:
-            # Value labels are not supported in version 108 and earlier.
-            return
         if self._value_labels_read:
             # Don't read twice
             return
+        if self.format_version <= 108:
+            # Value labels are not supported in version 108 and earlier.
+            self._value_labels_read = True
+            self.value_label_dict = dict()
+            return
 
         if self.format_version >= 117:
             self.path_or_buf.seek(self.seek_value_labels)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_stata.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_stata.py
index 89d76061329a3..4e259d0994bdb 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_stata.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_stata.py
@@ -589,6 +589,16 @@ def test_105(self):
         df0['psch_dis'] = df0["psch_dis"].astype(np.float32)
         tm.assert_frame_equal(df.head(3), df0)
 
+    def test_value_labels_old_format(self):
+        # GH 19417
+        #
+        # Test that value_labels() returns an empty dict if the file format
+        # predates supporting value labels.
+        dpath = os.path.join(self.dirpath, 'S4_EDUC1.dta')
+        reader = StataReader(dpath)
+        assert reader.value_labels() == {}
+        reader.close()
+
     def test_date_export_formats(self):
         columns = ['tc', 'td', 'tw', 'tm', 'tq', 'th', 'ty']
         conversions = {c: c for c in columns}