San Diego State University Jeffrey Epstein Files Research Guide

PostedSeptember 16, 2026

UpdatedSeptember 16, 2026

ByEpsteinWiki

Snapshot

Resource name: The Jeffrey Epstein Files

Institution: San Diego State University Library

Resource type: Academic library research guide and curated directory

Platform: Springshare LibGuides

Guide author: Kate Holvoet

Author’s position: Scholarly Communications and Open Initiatives Librarian

Public access: Free

Last updated: August 25, 2026

Primary purpose: To organize official government repositories, congressional releases, international government records, and public Epstein research platforms

Evidence status: Secondary finding aid

Direct access: SDSU Jeffrey Epstein Files Research Guide

Overview

The San Diego State University Jeffrey Epstein Files Research Guide is a publicly accessible directory created through the SDSU University Library. It directs researchers to government repositories, congressional document releases, international records, searchable archives, and independent research platforms connected to Jeffrey Epstein.

The guide is maintained by Kate Holvoet, SDSU’s Scholarly Communications and Open Initiatives Librarian. Her professional subject areas include government information, scholarly communication, accessibility, and open digital resources.

This is not a collection of original Epstein evidence. It does not independently authenticate every document, make findings about people named in the files, or replace the original government repositories. Its value comes from organizing scattered resources into a single academic library guide.

The guide is especially useful for new researchers who do not yet know where official records are stored or how the growing number of independent Epstein databases differ from one another.

Guide Organization

The SDSU guide is divided into four primary areas:

Background information about the Epstein files and government releases
Best practices for using Epstein related databases
Official United States and international government repositories
Curated public search platforms and archives

This structure allows researchers to move from basic orientation to primary documents and then to tools that make those documents easier to search.

Background Information

The guide introduces the Epstein files as a collection of documents, images, videos, contact records, flight logs, court materials, and investigative evidence connected to Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.

It discusses the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025 and the Justice Department’s later release of millions of pages, images, and videos.

The guide describes the January 30, 2026 production as including approximately three million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images. It also notes the dispute surrounding the Justice Department’s acknowledgment that approximately six million pages could qualify for release.

SDSU identifies its opening background section as material adapted from Wikipedia. Researchers should therefore treat that section as general orientation rather than original academic analysis.

SDSU’s Description of the DOJ Datasets

The guide provides a broad overview of the twelve datasets released by the United States government.

Dataset group	SDSU description
Datasets 1 through 8	FBI interview summaries and Palm Beach police records, primarily from 2005 through 2008
Dataset 9	Email evidence and internal Justice Department correspondence, including material related to the 2008 nonprosecution agreement
Dataset 10	Approximately 180,000 images and 2,000 videos seized from Epstein properties
Dataset 11	Financial records, flight manifests, and property seizure materials
Dataset 12	Later productions and supplemental records requiring additional legal review

This summary may help researchers understand the general scope of the release, but it should not be treated as an official item level inventory. The actual datasets contain overlapping document types, duplicate records, extracted files, correspondence, media, legal materials, and inconsistent metadata.

Researchers should verify the location and classification of a specific document through its EFTA number and original release path.

Best Practices Recommended by the Guide

Prioritize Primary Sources

The guide recommends beginning with official government documents whenever possible.

Independent platforms can make records searchable and provide valuable context. However, they should not replace the original file when a researcher is establishing what a document actually says.

For EpsteinWiki research, the best practice is to preserve the original EFTA number, government release location, page range, and direct evidence link.

Cross Reference Multiple Repositories

The guide warns researchers not to depend on a single database.

Different platforms may contain different versions of the same file. OCR systems can misread text. Metadata may be incomplete or incorrectly assigned. Some repositories also combine government records with court documents, journalism, congressional releases, and researcher annotations.

A finding should be checked against the original record and, when possible, a second independently maintained repository.

Evaluate Credibility and Attribution

SDSU recommends checking whether a document includes an official case number, EFTA identifier, court docket reference, or other traceable source information.

Annotations and summaries created by database operators should be separated from the underlying document. A platform’s description of a record is not the same thing as the language appearing in the record itself.

Verify Images

The guide specifically warns that images can be altered with artificial intelligence to insert or remove people.

Researchers should compare questionable images with the official PDF, media file, government release page, or authenticated photo archive. Reverse image searches, metadata checks, provenance signals, and visual comparisons can support authentication, but no single automated AI detector should be used alone.

Respect Privacy and Legal Restrictions

The guide advises researchers to follow ethical research practices and respect privacy protections.

This is especially important when Epstein files contain survivor names, addresses, medical information, phone numbers, immigration records, financial details, or images that could expose victims and witnesses.

Publication by the government does not automatically make every personal detail ethical or necessary to republish.

Official United States Government Resources

Department of Justice Epstein Library

The United States Department of Justice Epstein Library is the principal federal repository included in the guide.

It contains the government’s released Epstein materials and provides the original source location for many records carrying EFTA identification numbers.

The DOJ library should be treated as the primary source when verifying whether a document was part of an official federal release.

FBI Vault

The FBI Vault collection for Jeffrey Epstein contains records released through the Freedom of Information Act.

The Vault collection is distinct from later EFTA productions. Researchers should document whether a record came from the FBI Vault or the DOJ Epstein Library because the two collections have different release histories and identifiers.

Customs and Border Protection Records

The guide links to United States Customs and Border Protection records concerning Jeffrey Epstein.

These materials may support research involving travel, border crossings, aviation, passenger movements, government databases, or agency responses to records requests.

Senate Finance Committee Investigation

The guide includes the Senate Finance Committee report titled Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s Sex Trafficking.

The report was released on August 4, 2026, following a multiyear investigation into financial transactions, institutional compliance failures, and the banking systems that allowed Epstein to move money.

This is one of the strongest resources in the guide because it is an official congressional investigation rather than a secondary database.

House Oversight Committee Releases

The guide links to House Oversight productions released on several dates in 2025, including:

September 2, 2025
September 8, 2025
October 6, 2025
November 11, 2025
December 3, 2025

The collections are linked through Google Drive and Dropbox folders. Researchers should record the release date, original committee description, folder name, document identifier, and local file checksum when preserving material from these folders.

A commercial storage link can change or disappear. The link alone is not a permanent citation.

International Government Records

The guide’s international section currently includes a United Kingdom government document production concerning the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States.

The House of Commons return concerning Mandelson’s appointment contains records relevant to Mandelson’s appearance in the Epstein files and the British government’s handling of information connected to him.

This section is more limited than the United States section. Additional official records from France, the United States Virgin Islands, Norway, Israel, and other jurisdictions could strengthen future versions of the guide.

Curated Public Search Platforms

Epstein Archive

Epstein Archive is described as an automatically processed and searchable archive of publicly released documents.

Its main value is OCR search and easier public access. Because the archive relies on automated processing, researchers should confirm quotations and names against the original document image.

Epstein Data

Epstein Data is described by SDSU as a free and open source platform indexing the complete DOJ release, House Oversight material, and FBI Vault records.

The platform provides full text search, audio and video transcription, deposition transcripts, image analysis, redaction analysis, and direct access by EFTA number. Individual records can be located through the Epstein Data document search.

Its inclusion in an academic library guide is significant because it recognizes the platform’s research utility. However, SDSU’s inclusion should not be interpreted as institutional authentication of every automated transcription, annotation, or analytical report on the site.

Original records remain the controlling evidence.

Epstein Exposed

Epstein Exposed provides document search, email search, flight information, person pages, and visual relationship maps.

Network visualizations can help identify research leads. A connection displayed on a graph does not automatically establish friendship, criminal conduct, knowledge, or participation in abuse. Researchers must examine the documents supporting each connection.

Tommy Carstensen’s Epstein Files Database

Tommy Carstensen’s Epstein Files Transparency Act database preserves government documents and tracks files that were deleted, replaced, or modified.

The platform also includes transcriptions, real world outcome tracking, and a stated commitment to redact information that could identify survivors.

Its version tracking function is particularly useful for chain of custody research and comparisons between different government releases.

Epstein Network

Epstein Network explores connections among people appearing in photographs released through the DOJ Epstein Library.

The platform can assist with visual research and possible identity matching. Facial similarity or appearance in a shared image should be treated as a lead requiring confirmation, not proof of misconduct.

Epstein OSINT Database

The Epstein OSINT Database compiles court filings, survivor testimony, journalism, public records, and open source research.

Its value comes from combining source types that may not appear in the DOJ production. Because it is a living community resource, researchers should examine the cited material rather than relying solely on database summaries.

Jeffrey Epstein Library

The Jeffrey Epstein Library is described as a public search engine for court documents, flight records, and released Epstein materials.

The SDSU description uses the phrase “client lists.” Researchers should use caution with that wording. A contact book, flight log, calendar, email address book, or list of names is not automatically a client list and does not establish criminal activity.

Jmail

Jmail presents Epstein related emails through an interface modeled after a conventional email inbox.

The format makes communication threads easier to follow by sender, recipient, date, and keyword. Researchers should still examine the source record because email threads can be incomplete, duplicated, quoted inside later messages, or separated from their attachments.

Research Value

The SDSU guide has several important strengths.

First, it places official government sources before public research platforms. This encourages researchers to start with primary records.

Second, it recognizes that no single repository contains a perfect representation of the files. Cross checking is built into its recommended research method.

Third, it addresses AI altered images and ethical publication practices. These warnings are increasingly important as synthetic Epstein photographs and videos circulate online.

Fourth, it provides academic library recognition of several independent public interest research projects, including Epstein Data, Epstein Exposed, Epstein Archive, Tommy Carstensen’s database, and Jmail.

Finally, the guide is freely available to the general public. It does not require an SDSU account to access the listed resources.

Limitations and Cautions

The guide is a curated directory, not a peer reviewed study or an official evidence catalog.

Its introductory background is adapted from Wikipedia. Its best practices section credits an external online resource rather than an original SDSU research policy. Some descriptions of the datasets and public platforms are simplified.

The guide also links to changing Google Drive and Dropbox folders. Those services are useful for access but do not provide permanent archival stability.

Several listed research platforms rely on OCR, automated transcription, facial analysis, relationship graphs, artificial intelligence, or community annotations. Those features can generate valuable leads, but they can also produce false matches, transcription errors, and misleading associations.

Inclusion in an SDSU LibGuide means that a librarian selected the resource as potentially useful. It does not mean that San Diego State University verified every claim, name, image, transcript, or database entry.

Recommended Use

Researchers should use the guide as a starting map.

Begin with the official DOJ, FBI, CBP, congressional, or international government repository. Record the source URL, release date, document identifier, page range, and file name.

Use public databases to search, compare, transcribe, and identify related materials. Then return to the original government or court document before publishing a factual claim.

When an original source cannot be located, label the information as unverified and explain what evidence remains missing.

Questions for Further Investigation

Will SDSU expand the guide to include federal and state court repositories?
Will future versions include official records from the United States Virgin Islands?
Can the guide provide a more detailed inventory of the twelve DOJ datasets?
Will SDSU archive copies of congressional releases currently stored on Google Drive and Dropbox?
How were the independent public platforms evaluated before inclusion?
Will the guide add formal criteria for source reliability, survivor privacy, and evidence authentication?
Can the guide distinguish more clearly between source documents, search tools, annotations, and AI generated analysis?
Will additional international government records be added?
Can permanent archived links or checksums be provided for files that may later be removed or replaced?

Investigation Tools