Photo: Jody Dole; Courtesy Star of Hope Foundation, Vinalhaven, Maine

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 December 28, 1961, Indiana records being congratulated by Carleon Gallery, and a call from Jeanne Molli of the New York Times, who offered him tear sheets. Both are a reference to The American Dream, I being illustrated in "New Pictures from the Museum of Modern Art’s New Show," in the December 24 New York Times. He writes that it was "an ugly unpleasant day" weather-wise, and that his new potbelly stove arrived and was installed. He also notes that Art (clinical psychologist and art collector Arthur Carr) came down for a dinner of beef stew and brandied pears, and that he finished an Eat drawing after walking Carr to Fulton Street subway station. 

Indiana frequently recorded current events in his journal. Here he notes that former First Lady Mrs. Woodrow Wilson had died.