Suzanne Maynard was cleaning out drawers and boxes at her Oneco home recently when a yellowed envelope she had purchased years ago piqued her interest once again.

Maynard had purchased the item at the Jewett City Flea Market about 20 years ago for her stamp collection. But more for the envelope than the worn, upside down, red 2-cent stamp of George Washington.

It was a commemorative first-day cover envelope depicting a photo of Norwich Harbor with steam ships and sailboats, with “Old Home Week, Sept. 1st to 7th 1901, Norwich, Conn.” stamped beneath the photo.

The keepsake envelope, apparently delivered with just the address, “Miss. Sarah Bulkley, Norwich Conn.,” contained a carefully folded, six-page letter in neat cursive writing. She paused in her downsizing efforts to reconnect with the soap opera drama of a century ago.

Maynard read the first page, in which the unnamed man ― he did not sign the letter ― responded to a letter from Sarah in which she apparently told him some people thought she was “mean.” With some elegant words about etiquette and manners, he assured her he did not agree with their sentiments.

“He sounds like a scorned suitor,” Maynard said.

By the second page, the writer said he could not understand why Sarah’s mother was trying to make him “feel low & miserable every chance she can get.” He admitted feeling “sorry, foolish, depressed, snubbed, would like to sink through the floor.”

Two pages later: “I am very very sorry that any of this has happened, but I don’t know how I could have helped it or now affect a cure.”

The letter ended with the writer referring to John and another woman apparently planning to get married soon.

Now that Maynard has rediscovered the letter in her collection, she hopes to find a permanent home for this artifact, perhaps in the hands of a Norwich historical group or museum.

“I pulled that out and thought someone has to be interested in it, because it is Norwich, and for the story,” she said.

Regan Miner, executive director of the Norwich Historical Society, said the group does not have a collection and could not take possession of the letter. She suggested Maynard contact Otis Library as a possible home for the letter.

As for Old Home Week, city Historian Dale Plummer said many New England towns held such festivals in the late 19th and early 20th century. Small towns especially lost population to the bigger cities during that era, Plummer said, and held Old Home Week to invite them back.

Events featured costumed parades, elaborate dinners with guest books, some mischievousness and exhibits with “old timey stuff,” Plummer said. Otis Library has programs from the Norwich events in its collection, he said.

Maynard, 70, grew up in Griswold and started collecting stamps as a youth. Her uncle would take her to the Yaworski Landfill in Canterbury to hunt for treasures, old musical instruments, furniture or whatever. Her aunt would scold him and tell him to take the junk back to the dump. But Maynard was hooked.

“If it was old, it would interest me,” she said.

Maynard worked for Norwich Hospital for 30 years, starting as a psychiatric aide. She became an LPN through Norwich Technical High School’s classes given at the state hospital. When the hospital closed in the mid-1990s, she worked for the Southeastern Mental Health Authority in Norwich and became a registered nurse.

She has lived in the Oneco village of Sterling for the past 30 years.

“Now I’m retired and the only mental health duty I have is to maintain my sense of humor and keep people laughing,” she said.

c.bessette@theday.com