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 February 11, 1961, Indiana records going to Staten Island with Stephen and Barbara Durkee to pick up wood (for his sculptures) but that he found other things, including an old $2 clock, which he planned on giving to J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss) for Valentine's Day. He also writes that they discovered "a magnificent ruin of a Victorian school."

Indiana notes that he and Kloss had a theater date that evening with Arthur Carr (a clinical psychologist and art collector), who had invited them to see Edward Albee's play, The American Dream. He describes the play as "silly, but fun."