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 12, 1959, Indiana records receiving an early morning call from Ellsworth Kelly, who was in great pain due to a bad back and asked him for help. Regarding this request he comments:

"despite the ties of humanity, this dependence seemed highly ironic and not altogether enlisting my deepest sympathies. E/K [Ellsworth Kelly] has gone so far since I have been on the Slip and I so little, that an appeal for aid has an automatic injustice to it: I do not mean to feel sorry for myself, for I am the author of my uninteresting book; but again, do not feel sorry for him who barely acknowledges my existence when he is well. And he bemoans that Jack [Youngerman] and Delphine [Seyrig] never come to see him: that he is neglected by old friends."

Indiana also notes meeting A/N (Alvin Novak) at the Museum of Modern Art, and having cocktails.