Yes, you can - the piece of work I've just had published has references from 1991. HOWEVER - it's good practice to make sure that there is nothing more recent on the same subject which provides the same evidence - the quotations I used are about a subject which hasn't changed in the last twenty years.
You may quote any research you like, but you may not present it as if it was your own work. You may not pretend that someone else's work is yours. Put the earlier researcher's words in inverted commas, and quote at the end of your work where you found it.
I work in a college where plagiarism gets you thrown out of the college, and all your work, studies and fees are utterly wasted, and you get a bad reputaion as well.