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 page for December 3, 1960, Indiana describes a trip to Schenectady, New York, where his sculpture, Ge, was in the exhibition Recent American Art: Two Sides. He records leaving at 6:30 a.m. with Stephen and Barbara Durkee, and that it was not clear yet whether they were going on to Utica to see the new Munson Williams Proctor Institute, "but as [the] trip progressed it became apparent that we were not. I sensed an air of strain hanging over [the] entire excursions, in fact."

Indiana notes that Union College, where the exhibition was being held, was an extremely old campus, and that the "buildings were a delight." Regarding the exhibition he writes: "The exhibit and 'Ge' were in an old assembly room that reminded me of [the] Victorian Gothic of [the] [Arsenal] Tech library in Indianapolis. It was really two exhibits in one, he having chosen work from more than just [the] New Media show."

He also records that they then had a picnic in the formal garden on campus, "a cold and rather primitive rite, as we were lacking some of [the] amenities," and that on the way back they took the time to "stop along [the] road [to] gather seed pods, take a coffee break in a strange little roadside café, and then stop at President Van Buren’s house and rummaged through the estate’s gate house, now a little antique shop where we all found some things [to] delight our hearts. I a lovely iron wheel from an old rope well."

He also notes that Paul Sanasardo had a dance concert that evening, which he missed.