The walls of a long, well-lit room are stacked with models of vacuums, from durable wooden devices made in the 1800s to chic, space-age cleaners from the 1960s. The gray industrial carpet is, of course, spotless.

The 300 vacuums in the collection were donated, traded in, or sent by people who had heard about Stark's museum and just couldn't bear to scrap their grandmother's old Electrolux. Highlights include the two-person-operated Busy-Bee (he pumped, she vacuumed) and the Duntley Pneumatic. The salesman would attach it to the ceiling and do chin-ups from it to demonstrate its air-pump suction seal.