Boston's Lincoln men (and women)

LINCOLN HAS FOUND passionate devotees in Boston ever since Appomattox. Historian David Herbert Donald, a professor emeritus at Harvard and author of what is widely considered the definitive biography of the 16th president, even lives on Lincoln Road in Lincoln. In his most recent book, '''We Are Lincoln Men': Abraham Lincoln and His Friends,'' Donald harshly criticizes C.A. Tripp's claims about Lincoln's sexuality -- but he might at least take comfort in the fact that contributions by three of his former doctoral students appear between the covers of Tripp's book. Michael Burlingame contributes a ''respectful dissent,'' while Jean H. Baker (biographer of Mary Todd Lincoln) and UMass-Boston historian Michael B. Chesson grant it moderate endorsements. Chesson has even been hitting the lecture circuit on behalf of the recently deceased Tripp.

The gay Lincoln idea also traces some roots to Boston. CHARLEY SHIVELY -- a poet, professor of American Studies at UMass-Boston, and radical activist best known for burning a Bible at the city's Gay Pride rally in 1977 -- provided perhaps the first serious exploration of Lincoln's sexuality in the pages of Boston's underground gay liberation paper Fag Rag (published here from 1971-87) and then in a chapter on Whitman and Lincoln in his collection ''Drum Beats: Walt Whitman's Civil War Boy Lovers,'' published in 1989 by Gay Sunshine Press. Shively's UMass colleague William Percy, who knew Tripp personally, introduced him to LEWIS GANNETT, a Boston writer who helped Tripp complete the work and see it through to publication.

And lest the world of Lincoln-in-Boston seem like an all-male preserve, in nearby Concord DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN is putting the finishing touches on her own Lincoln biography.