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 July 11, 1961, Indiana describes a visit to his studio by the art critic Gene Swenson (an early chamption of his work). Indiana writes that "he came ostensibly [to] see more work, but his interest was not notably piqued from all [that] I could judge." He explains that he had hoped to have The Calumet further along, but that Swenson was only able to see it at its most elementary, "just the rings of letters," and that he was not responsive to Year of Meteors. 

Indiana records that they then had dinner at Sloppy Louie's, and took a long walk through the neighborhood to the Battery. He describes Swenson as "a simple boy from Kansas whose father ran a gas station comes [to] New York and becomes an art critic."