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 September 18, 1961, Indiana writes that art critic Gene Swenson came to his studio to see his summer's work completed, "having not seen it since The Calumet was a mere outline and it was [this] painting [that] he seems [to]. like [the] most." He then records going uptown for dinner, and to Art's (clinical psychologist and art collector Arthur Carr) apartment, where they "soon were engaged, not only in rearranging Art's collection but also his living room furniture."