There are not many surviving flags left from the War of 1812, fought between Great Britain and the United States. The National Museum of American History (NMAH) holds two in its collections one of which is the Star Spangled Banner. On other US institution owns another, and two have been identified in collections in the UK. Approximately 20% of the Star-Spangled Banner is missing, lost to the ravages of time, and to the practice of removing mementos and at least five other institutions have fragments removed from the Star Spangled Banner. This paper will deal with the topic of open exchange of technical information between institutions, independent researchers and members of the general public. It will raise the questions of how much to say, to whom, and when to say it. In addition it will briefly touch on the exhibition and other outreach tools used to share the answers to these questions with the public.