How can I open a document created in Word almost 20 years ago?

[Jonathan]

I am trying to open a word document created around 1988. The first half is
readable, the second half gibberish. I have tried to use converters. This
is from when word used "style sheets" for formatting. I don't mind
re-formatting manually if necessary, but how can I get rid of the gibberish
characters and find the text that should be there underneath?

 

[garfield-n-odie]

The old Word for DOS converters are no longer available for download
from the Microsoft website, but you can get them from Word MVP Graham
Mayor's website http://www.gmayor.com/downloads.htm .

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You might also try the "Recover Text from Any File" setting in the File Open
dialog.