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 October 29–30, 1960. In his entry for October 29 Indiana discusses a visit from the artist Richard Smith, recording that Smith seemed amazed at the number of new pieces in his studio. Indiana writes, "He expressed it as hundreds, but of course this was a pleasant exaggeration. Particularly he liked [the] 8 wheels [Moon]."

Indiana's entry for October 30 includes a sketch of a painting, formerly The Bride (later retitled In Praise of Dead Generals). A note to the left of the sketch indicates the addition of sienna (raw) stripes, and a note to the right indicates that it originally consisted of cadmium red light discs against raw sienna. A note added in 1962 records that the work had badly deteriorated.

Indiana also writes that gallerist Rolf Nelson visited and told him that James Rosenquist was taking over Agnes Martin's loft on Coenties Slip. He notes that Nelson liked the new Duncan's Column, reading it all the way around, and that it was largely Nelson's achievement that his work was being shown in Schenectady (Indiana's sculpture Ge was then on view in the exhibition Recent American Art: Two Sides, at Union College).