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 24, 1961, Indiana notes adding the words "Tilt" and "Take All" to opposite stars of The American Dream, I, and turning the small stars green and blue.

Indiana also records meeting J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss), at the Commodore Drug Store, where they had dinner before heading out in the snow to the theater to see The Miracle Worker with Anne Bancroft and Patti Duke. He writes that they saw both backstage, and met Bancroft.