Several Harvard professors — including former Social Science divisional dean Stephen M. Kosslyn, education professor Howard E. Gardner, and former Harvard Medical School professor Mark Tramo — maintained contact with convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein after he was first indicted in 2006 for soliciting prostitution.

Epstein planned gatherings and discussed funding for Harvard research with the professors, who offered the now-deceased felon words of encouragement after the first indictment was filed, according to a collection of more than 18,000 emails from Epstein’s inbox obtained by Bloomberg News.

Between Epstein’s indictment in 2006 and subsequent guilty plea to soliciting prostitution with a minor in 2008, Kosslyn sent Epstein emails arranging dinner with other scholars, and with Harvard Law School professor Alan M. Dershowitz — Epstein’s close friend and attorney.

Gardner sent Epstein a list of book recommendations and promised to follow up with “advice about offsprings.” Two months after Epstein negotiated a guilty plea to two state charges, Gardner advised him to “take a deep breath” and “take one day at a time.”