Restore applications from "Archive and Install"

First time poster, long time lurker. I did search this forum (and many others) and could not find the answer. How do I restore applications from the Previous System folder created when one chooses to Archive and Install when reinstalling OS X?

Here is the long story for those who care about the details: I have a PowerMac G5 (yes, I know...) that I decided needed a performance boost until the next refresh. I looked at my options and went with a 115GB SSD. The problem is my boot disk is a 1.5 TB drive that is 1/2 filled. I normally clone the drive when replacing a bootdisk, but I have never had to go down in capacity. I decided to just install Leopard fresh on the drive, then use migration assistant to move my user files. Well, for unknown reasons, that did not work so I had to create a new user account. This was my first mistake as I gave the new account the same name as the existing account on my now secondary 1.5TB drive. I thought "I'll just transfer all of the files" so I painstakingly copied every folder under the old user name to the new user name. Then I found I didn't have permissions to launch any thing. So I made my next mistake of clicking the SSD drive and granting read & write access to all sub-directories. I then rebooted and got the circle-with-cross sign, indicating I couldn't boot from my SSD. I booted from the OS CD and ran utilities, but received errors when attempting to repair permissions. My only option was a reinstall. I had just enough space to archive the current system and reinstall Leopard on the SSD. That is where I stand.

The only important files to me are my email and my desktop as the really important files (documents, pictures, music, movies, etc.) are still on the 1.5TB drive. So I went into the Previous System folder and moved Mail into the Applications folder, but it will not launch. Ultimately, I would love to move all applications from the Previous System folder and have all of my preferences moved, too. Is there any way to do this?

Thanks for reading my novel!

 

Thanks, Mal... er Capt. Reynolds! I was able to recover my email and my desktop along with other files. I appreciate your help.