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 daily life on Coenties Slip.

This journal page covers September 12–13, 1960. In his first entry, for September 12, Indiana records that he closed all his skylight's windows in anticipation of Hurricane Donna, which hit later in the morning, flooding Coenties Slip and sending water into the downstairs entrance. He also writes that R (gallerist Rolf Nelson) chose two possible pieces for the New Media—New Forms II show at the Martha Jackson Gallery, but that prices were not discussed. The two works Indiana mentions in the entry are "6 Red Disks" (possibly Six) and "Y" (possibly an earlier name for Ge, which was included in the show; Indiana's journal entry for July 19, 1960, includes an illustration of an unnamed construction, with a note that the work became Ge in 1961).

In his journal entry for September 13 Indiana notes that he had a quiet 32nd birthday, and that Nelson (who went by Ralph at the time), came over with a friend, Philip, bearing silly gifts ("suckers, Cracker-Jax, pocketbook, etc.") and bringing "some ceremony to the occasion . . . but it was still quiet—not nearly as gay as that first birthday on the Slip." He also records learning that Randy Muhleman (who had lived with him) was going to Alaska, and that while his lack of communication was understandable, he feared he had "borne infection to older friends in Chicago."