diff --git a/langchain/docstore/in_memory.py b/langchain/docstore/in_memory.py
index 1049337839..d60efe277a 100644
--- a/langchain/docstore/in_memory.py
+++ b/langchain/docstore/in_memory.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 """Simple in memory docstore in the form of a dict."""
-from typing import Dict, Union
+from typing import Dict, Optional, Union
 
 from langchain.docstore.base import AddableMixin, Docstore
 from langchain.docstore.document import Document
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ from langchain.docstore.document import Document
 class InMemoryDocstore(Docstore, AddableMixin):
     """Simple in memory docstore in the form of a dict."""
 
-    def __init__(self, _dict: Dict[str, Document]):
+    def __init__(self, _dict: Optional[Dict[str, Document]] = None):
         """Initialize with dict."""
-        self._dict = _dict
+        self._dict = _dict if _dict is not None else {}
 
     def add(self, texts: Dict[str, Document]) -> None:
         """Add texts to in memory dictionary."""
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/docstore/test_inmemory.py b/tests/unit_tests/docstore/test_inmemory.py
index 4fe9104c22..300b154427 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/docstore/test_inmemory.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/docstore/test_inmemory.py
@@ -54,3 +54,12 @@ def test_adding_document_already_exists() -> None:
     bar_output = docstore.search("foo")
     assert isinstance(bar_output, Document)
     assert bar_output.page_content == "bar"
+
+
+def test_default_dict_value_in_constructor() -> None:
+    """Test proper functioning if no _dict is provided to the constructor."""
+    docstore = InMemoryDocstore()
+    docstore.add({"foo": Document(page_content="bar")})
+    output = docstore.search("foo")
+    assert isinstance(output, Document)
+    assert output.page_content == "bar"