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 October 24, 1961, Indiana writes "two things folded in upon me at once today: the Times Pumpkin and a studio visit from a mother of one of my pumpkins." Pumpkin was a construction that Indiana created for the New York Times, and the mother referred to is journalist and art historian Noel Frackman, whose child attended classes Indiana taught at the Scarsdale Studio Workshop. He notes working on the pumpkin all day, "being blessed by a delay in picking it up. It became more than a construction. . . .  a 50-pie pumpkin."

Indiana records that when Frackman arrived with gallerist Rolf (Nelson) she purchased the painting Beating Hearts (Papa) with money she had won from a writing prize. He also notes a visit from James Rosenquist, a call from Stephen Durkee, and receiving the catalogue for The Art of Assemblage, in which his sculpture Moon was included.