"We have a beautiful crucified Christ whose eyes open and close," said Meg McDevitt , a lecturer in the department and a sculptor. "He's just wonderful."
The museum's holdings, however, have one serious void: No pictures of dogs playing poker. "Would you like to make a contribution?" DeCausemacker said.
The museum opened 11 years ago, the brainchild of DeCausemacker and a now-retired art professor with a taste for tacky. The gallery, known as WHAMKA, is one of the odd collections of stuff -- thermometers, spider webs, old snowmobiles -- deposited in pockets around New England and open to the public.
These are not museums that host black-tie fund - raisers to bulk up their endowments. Most will never appear in earnest guidebooks or glossy travel magazines. Their hours of operation may depend upon the whims of the owners. And they often began with someone like DeCausemacker, who never met a plastic cowboy he didn't like.
Porter ThermometerMuseum Richard Porter loves thermometers. The former junior high science teacher's passion was ignited as he fixed the instruments broken by students. He began collecting them, starting with the piece that had hung for years outside his uncle's New Hampshire gas station. Before his daughter died from a brain tumor in 1990, she made a plea: "She said, 'Dad, do something with your collection,' " Porter recalled.
His answer was to open the Porter Thermometer Museum in the basement of his Onset house. Now the world's largest -- and only -- thermometer museum welcomes visitors every day Porter is home. Porter, meanwhile, has assumed the identity of Thermometer Man, and his collection is listed in Guinness World Records as the world's largest.
