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 31–November 1, 1960. In his entry for October 31 Indiana writes that he carried some sawed-off column ends to Scarsdale (where he taught art classes), as well as three older plaster wire nail constructions.

His entry for November 1 includes a sketch of a work, originally titled Agadir, which he noted he began on March 2, 1960. A note to the right of the sketch, added at a later date, notes the work's new title, American Dream [later retitled The American Dream, I], and a note to the left of the 72 x 60-inch work indicates the addition of raw sienna paint.

Indiana also describes going to one of Jim Dine's Happenings at the Reuben Gallery's new location. He lists many of the people that were there, among them gallerists Martha Jackson and Rolf Nelson, and artists Karel Appel, Lenore Tawney, and Lil Picard. He records that Nelson had wanted him to stick around and join the select group upstairs afterwards, but that he was swayed by artist Richard "Dick" Smith to join him and Museum of Modern Art curator Campbell Wylly at the Limelight.