diff --git a/Lib/logging/config.py b/Lib/logging/config.py
index fa1a398aee2a2b1..f58be930893590b 100644
--- a/Lib/logging/config.py
+++ b/Lib/logging/config.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2001-2016 by Vinay Sajip. All Rights Reserved.
+# Copyright 2001-2019 by Vinay Sajip. All Rights Reserved.
 #
 # Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
 # documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 is based on PEP 282 and comments thereto in comp.lang.python, and influenced
 by Apache's log4j system.
 
-Copyright (C) 2001-2016 Vinay Sajip. All Rights Reserved.
+Copyright (C) 2001-2019 Vinay Sajip. All Rights Reserved.
 
 To use, simply 'import logging' and log away!
 """
@@ -173,9 +173,10 @@ def _handle_existing_loggers(existing, child_loggers, disable_existing):
     for log in existing:
         logger = root.manager.loggerDict[log]
         if log in child_loggers:
-            logger.level = logging.NOTSET
-            logger.handlers = []
-            logger.propagate = True
+            if not isinstance(logger, logging.PlaceHolder):
+                logger.setLevel(logging.NOTSET)
+                logger.handlers = []
+                logger.propagate = True
         else:
             logger.disabled = disable_existing
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_logging.py b/Lib/test/test_logging.py
index 13393cd8b372ff8..546cea98c1ea4ca 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_logging.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_logging.py
@@ -4020,7 +4020,7 @@ def cleanup(self):
         logging._handlers.clear()
         logging._handlers.update(self.saved_handlers)
         logging._handlerList[:] = self.saved_handler_list
-        logging.root.level = self.original_logging_level
+        logging.root.setLevel(self.original_logging_level)
 
     def test_no_kwargs(self):
         logging.basicConfig()