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 Indiana's journal entry for January 29, 1961, he records starting The American Sweetheart, and includes a small sketch of the work. He also describes his evening: going out to dinner and seeing Steve and Barbara Durkee, Lenore Tawney, and Agnes Martin, who all came over later to watch Gerry Matthews in "New York Scrapbook."