diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/d/hashtables.dd b/M2/Macaulay2/d/hashtables.dd
index 0628e53e09..316b9df4b9 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/d/hashtables.dd
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/d/hashtables.dd
@@ -255,11 +255,13 @@ export toHashTable(v:Sequence):Expr := (
      Expr(sethash(o,false)));
 toHashTable(e:Expr):Expr := (
      when e
+     -- # typical value: hashTable, BasicList, HashTable
      is w:List do toHashTable(w.v)
      is s:Sequence do (
 	  if length(s) == 2 then (
 	      if isFunction(s.0) then (
 		  when s.1
+		  -- # typical value: hashTable, Function, BasicList, HashTable
 		  is w:Sequence do toHashTableWithCollisionHandler(w, s.0)
 		  is w:List do toHashTableWithCollisionHandler(w.v, s.0)
 		  else WrongArg(2, "a list or sequence"))
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/m2/typicalvalues.m2 b/M2/Macaulay2/m2/typicalvalues.m2
index c353e341f3..7b393266b4 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/m2/typicalvalues.m2
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/m2/typicalvalues.m2
@@ -51,8 +51,6 @@ take(BasicList,ZZ) := take(BasicList,List) := BasicList => take
 take(Thing,ZZ) := take(Thing,List) := List => take
 
 isMutable(Thing) := Boolean => isMutable
-hashTable List := HashTable => hashTable
-hashTable(Function,List) := HashTable => hashTable
 remove(MutableList,ZZ) := Nothing => remove
 remove(Database,String) := Nothing => remove
 remove(HashTable,Thing) := Nothing => remove
diff --git a/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/types.m2 b/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/types.m2
index 002f784788..da6c6c40ce 100644
--- a/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/types.m2
+++ b/M2/Macaulay2/packages/Macaulay2Doc/types.m2
@@ -544,7 +544,10 @@ document {
      }
 
 document {
-     Key => {hashTable,(hashTable, List)},
+     Key => {
+	 hashTable,
+	 (hashTable, BasicList),
+	 (hashTable, Function, BasicList)},
      Headline => "make a hash table",
      TT "hashTable(h,v)", " -- produce a hash table from a list ", TT "v", " of key-value pairs, with an optional collision handler function ", TT "h", ".",
      PARA{},