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 page for May 30, 1962, Indiana records that it was the day of the Indianapolis 500 races, and that it had been a good ten years since he had been back to Indianapolis. He writes that he had gone to bed at 6 a.m. and gotten up late, but did accomplish "quite a lot of work" before Campbell (Wylly, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art) arrived. He notes applying a second coat of red on the danger stripes of The Sweet Mystery, and that the painting's letters, which he illustrates, became cobalt blue. He also notes finishing the second coat of red on The Red Diamond American Dream #3, and giving Year of Meteors a coat of cerulean blue on its field.

Indiana then describes his evening, with Wylly arriving after six, and that they talked while J. (his partner, fashion designer John Kloss) prepared a dinner of potato and leek soup, avocado salad, and strawberries for dessert. Indiana notes that Wylly's friend Wildergreen, a staff member at the Museum of Modern Art, was also over, and that he didn't find the food "to his taste or wasn't much hungry, but did respond more enthusiastically [to] my painting, and more particularly [to] [the] constructions."