diff -r c00a1fd0d27b pidgin/plugins/history.c
--- a/pidgin/plugins/history.c	Wed Aug 05 12:32:22 2015 -0500
+++ b/pidgin/plugins/history.c	Fri Aug 21 11:01:50 2015 -0400
@@ -134,7 +134,8 @@
 		header_date = purple_date_format_full(localtime(&((PurpleLog *)logs->data)->time));
 
 	header = g_strdup_printf(_("<b>Conversation with %s on %s:</b><br>"), escaped_alias, header_date);
-	gtk_imhtml_append_text(GTK_IMHTML(gtkconv->imhtml), header, options);
+	/* times can render as smileys - add an IMHTML option to prevent that */
+	gtk_imhtml_append_text(GTK_IMHTML(gtkconv->imhtml), header, options|GTK_IMHTML_NO_SMILEY);
 	g_free(header);
 	g_free(escaped_alias);