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.

This journal page covers March 7, 1959, and March 7 and 9, 1960. Indiana's first entry on the page, for March 7, 1959, includes two sketches of Untitled, a first version and a later version, the latter with letters indicating the different colors used.  He comments that he started the canvas that morning, "still on that too-dry linen that I procured free at the art store," and that he spent the whole day on it. He records that he never made it uptown to the galleries as intended, as "It was exhausting for such a small canvas."

In the second entry on the page, for March 7, 1960, Indiana records that there was a light snow, and that he stretched his last canvas, 60 by 48 inches. He notes that it was a year ago today that he did Arthur's painting (the above mentioned work, Untitled, for psychologist and art collector Arthur Carr), so he thought he would do another multi-colored one. However he ended up being distracted by Ben Johnson's Volpone, which he describes as one of the "Play of the Week's" best.

The final entry on the page, for March 9, 1960, contains two sketches, one of an untitled work, with notes to add a circle and apply a second coat of raw sienna, and an early version of Agadir (which later became The American Dream, I), with the note "2nd coat permanent green light."