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.

This journal page covers February 17, 1959, and February 17, 1960. In the first entry on the page, for February 17, 1959, Indiana describes an evening at the home of Bob W., noting that it was "very much [a] [Gertrude] Stein night. Books, magazine articles, even her voice on record." Stein's writings would come to have a significant impact on Indiana's career, and he would also collaborate with Virgil Thomson on a production of his opera The Mother of Us All, which had a libretto by Stein. 

The entry for February 17, 1960, includes a sketch of a painting the artist refers to as "Blue," with notes that it is cobalt blue and white gesso, and measures 60 by 36 inches. Indiana explains that "it was easily executed, as I had prior sketches, which I liked," and that it was the fourth work in the series (of single color paintings against white gesso). A note added to this entry at a later date states that the work was overpainted to become Terre Haute. 

Indiana also records having his friend Marvin, whom he had not seen in a year, over for dinner, which J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss) prepared. After dinner they watched Greta Garbo's 1931 film Mata Hari.