diff --git a/libqpdf/NNTree.cc b/libqpdf/NNTree.cc
index 51c0cc5..42a5cdb 100644
--- a/libqpdf/NNTree.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/NNTree.cc
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper::QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper(
 QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper
 QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper::newEmpty(QPDF& qpdf, bool auto_repair)
 {
-    return {qpdf.makeIndirectObject("<< /Names [] >>"_qpdf), qpdf, auto_repair};
+    return {qpdf.makeIndirectObject(Dictionary({{"/Names", Array::empty()}})), qpdf, auto_repair};
 }
 
 QPDFNameTreeObjectHelper::iterator::iterator(std::shared_ptr<NNTreeIterator> const& i) :
@@ -1068,7 +1068,7 @@ QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper::QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper(
 QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper
 QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper::newEmpty(QPDF& qpdf, bool auto_repair)
 {
-    return {qpdf.makeIndirectObject("<< /Nums [] >>"_qpdf), qpdf, auto_repair};
+    return {qpdf.makeIndirectObject(Dictionary({{"/Nums", Array::empty()}})), qpdf, auto_repair};
 }
 
 QPDFNumberTreeObjectHelper::iterator::iterator(std::shared_ptr<NNTreeIterator> const& i) :
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
index 5c7338b..890a6d2 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
@@ -635,21 +635,11 @@ QPDF::getPDFVersion() const
 int
 QPDF::getExtensionLevel()
 {
-    int result = 0;
-    QPDFObjectHandle obj = getRoot();
-    if (obj.hasKey("/Extensions")) {
-        obj = obj.getKey("/Extensions");
-        if (obj.isDictionary() && obj.hasKey("/ADBE")) {
-            obj = obj.getKey("/ADBE");
-            if (obj.isDictionary() && obj.hasKey("/ExtensionLevel")) {
-                obj = obj.getKey("/ExtensionLevel");
-                if (obj.isInteger()) {
-                    result = obj.getIntValueAsInt();
-                }
-            }
-        }
+    if (Integer ExtensionLevel = getRoot()["/Extensions"]["/ADBE"]["/ExtensionLevel"]) {
+        int result = ExtensionLevel;
+        return result;
     }
-    return result;
+    return 0;
 }
 
 QPDFObjectHandle
@@ -661,17 +651,17 @@ QPDF::getTrailer()
 QPDFObjectHandle
 QPDF::getRoot()
 {
-    QPDFObjectHandle root = m->trailer.getKey("/Root");
-    if (!root.isDictionary()) {
+    Dictionary Root = m->trailer["/Root"];
+    if (!Root) {
         throw m->c.damagedPDF("", -1, "unable to find /Root dictionary");
-    } else if (
-        // Check_mode is an interim solution to request #810 pending a more comprehensive review of
-        // the approach to more extensive checks and warning levels.
-        m->cf.check_mode() && !root.getKey("/Type").isNameAndEquals("/Catalog")) {
+    }
+    // Check_mode is an interim solution to request #810 pending a more comprehensive review of the
+    // approach to more extensive checks and warning levels.
+    if (m->cf.check_mode() && Name(Root["/Type"]) != "/Catalog") {
         warn(m->c.damagedPDF("", -1, "catalog /Type entry missing or invalid"));
-        root.replaceKey("/Type", "/Catalog"_qpdf);
+        Root.replaceKey("/Type", Name("/Catalog"));
     }
-    return root;
+    return Root.oh();
 }
 
 std::map<QPDFObjGen, QPDFXRefEntry>
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc
index 30c0bf2..b9663c2 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFJob.cc
@@ -1883,7 +1883,7 @@ QPDFJob::doUnderOverlayForPage(
             fo[from_no.no][uo_idx], name, dest_page.getTrimBox().getArrayAsRectangle(), cm);
         dest_page.copyAnnotations(from_page, cm, &dest_afdh, &from_page.qpdf()->doc().acroform());
         if (!new_content.empty()) {
-            resources.mergeResources("<< /XObject << >> >>"_qpdf);
+            resources.mergeResources(Dictionary({{"/XObject", Dictionary::empty()}}));
             auto xobject = resources.getKey("/XObject");
             if (xobject.isDictionary()) {
                 xobject.replaceKey(name, fo[from_no.no][uo_idx]);
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFPageLabelDocumentHelper.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFPageLabelDocumentHelper.cc
index 48847fb..a1c56ce 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFPageLabelDocumentHelper.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFPageLabelDocumentHelper.cc
@@ -131,19 +131,19 @@ QPDFPageLabelDocumentHelper::pageLabelDict(
     case pl_none:
         break;
     case pl_digits:
-        num.replaceKey("/S", "/D"_qpdf);
+        num.replaceKey("/S", Name("/D"));
         break;
     case pl_alpha_lower:
-        num.replaceKey("/S", "/a"_qpdf);
+        num.replaceKey("/S", Name("/a"));
         break;
     case pl_alpha_upper:
-        num.replaceKey("/S", "/A"_qpdf);
+        num.replaceKey("/S", Name("/A"));
         break;
     case pl_roman_lower:
-        num.replaceKey("/S", "/r"_qpdf);
+        num.replaceKey("/S", Name("/r"));
         break;
     case pl_roman_upper:
-        num.replaceKey("/S", "/R"_qpdf);
+        num.replaceKey("/S", Name("/R"));
         break;
     }
     if (!prefix.empty()) {
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc b/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc
index 530247f..25c5bad 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDFPageObjectHelper.cc
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ QPDFPageObjectHelper::externalizeInlineImages(size_t min_size, bool shallow)
         QPDFObjectHandle resources = getAttribute("/Resources", true);
         // Calling mergeResources also ensures that /XObject becomes direct and is not shared with
         // other pages.
-        resources.mergeResources("<< /XObject << >> >>"_qpdf);
+        resources.mergeResources(Dictionary({{"/XObject", Dictionary::empty()}}));
         InlineImageTracker iit(oh().getOwningQPDF(), min_size, resources);
         Pl_Buffer b("new page content");
         bool filtered = false;
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_pages.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_pages.cc
index a954a5d..021c42b 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_pages.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_pages.cc
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ Pages::getAllPagesInternal(
         // Unconditionally setting the /Type to /Pages could cause problems, but trying to
         // accommodate the possibility may be excessive.
         cur_node.warn("/Type key should be /Pages but is not; overriding");
-        cur_node.replaceKey("/Type", "/Pages"_qpdf);
+        cur_node.replaceKey("/Type", Name("/Pages"));
     }
     if (!media_box) {
         media_box = cur_node.getKey("/MediaBox").isRectangle();
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ Pages::getAllPagesInternal(
             }
             if (!kid.isDictionaryOfType("/Page")) {
                 kid.warn("/Type key should be /Page but is not; overriding");
-                kid.replaceKey("/Type", "/Page"_qpdf);
+                kid.replaceKey("/Type", Name("/Page"));
                 ++errors;
             }
             if (m->reconstructed_xref && errors > 2) {
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ Pages::flatten_annotations_for_page(
             std::string content =
                 aoh.getPageContentForAppearance(name, rotate, required_flags, forbidden_flags);
             if (!content.empty()) {
-                resources.mergeResources("<< /XObject << >> >>"_qpdf);
+                resources.mergeResources(Dictionary({{"/XObject", Dictionary({{name, as}})}}));
                 resources.getKey("/XObject").replaceKey(name, as);
                 ++next_fx;
             }
diff --git a/manual/release-notes.rst b/manual/release-notes.rst
index 72c8e93..db330b8 100644
--- a/manual/release-notes.rst
+++ b/manual/release-notes.rst
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ more detail.
 
   - Other changes
 
+    - Calling ``QPDF::getRoot`` on a file with invalid trailer now throws a
+      ``damaged_pdf`` error with message "unable to find /Root dictionary"
+      rather than an internal error.
+
 .. _r12-3-0-deprecate:
 
     - The following are believed to be not in use and have been deprecated.
diff --git a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/c-oh-errors.out b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/c-oh-errors.out
index aaeedef..c79544e 100644
--- a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/c-oh-errors.out
+++ b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/c-oh-errors.out
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-get root: attempted to dereference an uninitialized QPDFObjectHandle
-  code: 1
-  file: 
+get root: closed input source: unable to find /Root dictionary
+  code: 5
+  file: closed input source
   pos: 0
-  text: attempted to dereference an uninitialized QPDFObjectHandle
+  text: unable to find /Root dictionary
 bad parse: parsed object (offset 1): unknown token while reading object; treating as string
   code: 5
   file: parsed object
diff --git a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/test73.out b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/test73.out
index ad6fb78..54e241a 100644
--- a/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/test73.out
+++ b/qpdf/qtest/qpdf/test73.out
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-getRoot: attempted to dereference an uninitialized QPDFObjectHandle
+getRoot: closed input source: unable to find /Root dictionary
 WARNING: closed input source: object 4/0: error reading object: QPDF operation attempted on a QPDF object with no input source. QPDF operations are invalid before processFile (or another process method) or after closeInputSource
 test 73 done