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 January 28, 1959, and January 28, 1960. In his entry for January 28, 1959, Indiana records that there was still a thin layer of snow on the Slip, and that he wore his "fur trimmed cap and dark blue overcoat from colder [Chicago], and elicited the usual stares of wonder from stupid subway faces." He notes that it was his last day working at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and that apart from Canon West's request to see some evidence of his art, it passed without ceremony.

The entry for January 28, 1959, continues at the bottom of the page, and includes three images based on his painting Source I. Below the sketch he explains:

"It comes to me now, as I sit studying 'The Source' also dwelling on Arp's The Birth of the Rock that the black should not be so severely symetric [sic] within its white enclosure—and then de Falla's Three Cornered Hat comes on the radio—practically a vindication, an affirmation. How many times have I heard this work, in [Chicago], [Edinburgh], [London] and NYC?—Probably never in [Indianapolis]. Only vaguely possibly in [Anchorage]. Perhaps this is another [painting]."

In the middle of the page is Indiana's entry for January 28, 1960. He discusses teaching in Scarsdale (at the Scarsdale Studio Workshop), noting that it was the last day of the first term, and that his students showed up. Indiana records that it didn't go well: "My dissidents only reluctantly accepted the assignment of a hanging stabile." He also mentions seeing the film Anna Karenina, and that 1935 (the year of the film) was "certainly a year of very vague memories, all depression, Phillips Petroleum, tots on tricycles, etc."