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 June 13, 1962, Indiana notes that it was J's (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss) 25th birthday, and that there was not much festivity for him until the evening. He writes that he "made [the] day count—humidity and all—by restretching Black Diamond American Dream, which, like all those Kim [artist Pohyun Kim] did, I can not bear hanging limp and loose. Tightened [to] drum-like tautness and can only hope [that] didn’t overdue [sic] [the] operation."

He also records working on The Triumph of Tira, changing the color of the letters of the title and adding color to the words "cat" and "sex." 

Indiana then describes his evening, starting with a trip to the East Village to see The Blacks, a play by Jean Genet, at the St. Mark's Playhouse. He notes it was "better than I had anticipated, seeming much less pretentious and more vital than [The] Balcony. Luckily, by waiting this long saw much of [the] original cast, having returned after short stints elsewhere."

Indiana writes that after the play he went to visit art critic Gene Swenson and learned that Swenson's article ("The New American ‘Sign Painters’") would not appear in the June issue of ARTnews, "great if it is postponed until September, but a little annoying for Swenson." Indiana's first solo show, at the Stable Gallery, was scheduled for September (although it would ultimately be moved to October). He also describes some of the art in Swenson's apartment, proclaiming "his Durkee looks great, filling up his apartment rather handsomely. Also a new One-Dollar Bill on [the] wall by Andy Warhol."