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 January 10, 1962, Indiana records that he set the alarm for mid-sleep to get up and tend the fire, as it was very cold that evening. He notes that he and J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss) had to go out to cash a check so that J. could have some money. On their way home they stopped on Moore Street to look for wood, and found "a fine remnant of a ramp, in six (!) pieces, a fitting ground for my neglected construction work."

The entry then mentions a late visit by Noel (journalist Noel Frackman) and Sally (Scarsdale collector Sally Rose). Indiana notes he recognized them when they parked under the front windows because he saw a "color photo of Ballyhoo and Election [now Electi] being passed across [the] top of [the] dashboard." He details that Sally took some photos in both lofts and wrapped Ballyhoo in corrugated material, and that his visitors sped off just in time to thwart a policeman wanting to give them a ticket.

Indiana also mentions that he began work again on The Geography of Memory (later retitled Columbus: The Geography of Memory), "spurred by Sally's like of [the] painting." He notes starting a "rose–geometric" for the center of the painting, and includes a sketch of this detail. He also mentions working on a painting, Hexagon (later retitled Polygon: Hexagon), recording that he added a second coat, brown, to the work.