Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as his daily life on Coenties Slip.

In his journal entry for December 18, 1962, Indiana records working until nearly dawn to finish his columns, and riding up with them in a truck to Stable Gallery to install them for the gallery's Christmas show. He ensured that they were placed correctly in the front room and taped the bases. He notes he was invited back for a drink early that evening, but that it was not destined to take place because of Ruth Kligman's opening (she was in the show Hard Edge Painting at the Thibaut Gallery).

Indiana writes that he took a cab from the opening back to the Slip with Dick Bellamy (of the Green Gallery), which allowed him to avoid any post-opening activities. He records that he napped while John (Kloss, his partner, a fashion designer) went out to buy a Christmas tree "of an unusual variety, v[ery] thick and more of [the] ornamental shrub type of fir."