<p>I have an old .dot file with a few dozen styles in it.<br>
I need to place them into <b>another .dot file </b> that I received.  Is there a better way to get them in there than manually recreating each style?</p>

There is a 'Style Organizer' tool within Word which will let you copy styles from one document to another if they are both open at once.
In Word 2007:
Open the styles dialog (Home tab -> Styles -> Bottom Right button).
Click the 'manage styles' button.
Click 'Import/Export...'
I can't remember what the option is in Word 2003. I think it was Tools -> Style Organizer or similar.