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.

Indiana began this journal page on February 12, 1959, describing a trip to Macy's with Ellsworth Kelly to return a faulty staple gun, followed by a trip to Grand Central to purchase art supplies. He also records visiting Agnes Martin and seeing "her new circle paintings," lamenting that it was unfortunate for him that they were using the same motif, as "She will have them showed before I even have a gallery."

Indiana returned to this page a year later, on February 12, 1960, with a discussion of his continued work on an untitled construction (later titled Pair), noting that he added a rusted tricycle wheel he found on Fire Island, which he thought completed the work, and turned it, he hoped, to the "slightly paradoxical, even quixotic possibility." The day also involved running errands with J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss). Indiana bought a chisel, a crowbar, and some glue, with the intent of starting work on what he refers to as the large door (later titled Marine Works).