The Albany Hand-book of 1884 saw fit to give us a few words on, as far as I can see, only these two of the various ethnic communities that made up the capital city in those days. Here are the descriptions:
Italians.–The Italian colony in Albany consists of some twenty-five families. They are a quiet, inoffensive people, the most of them poor, but some are well-to-do Services are held especially for them in the Church of Our Lady of Angels, and they have a benevolent society.
Jews.–There are about 3,000 Hebrews in this city, most of them German, although a few are Bohemians, a few Poles and a few French. With the limited number who worship at Beth El Jacob in Fulton st., they are mostly the Reformed Jews, that is, they conform in most things to the idea of the present age; all, however, observe the right [sic] of circumcision (in males), the day of atonement; and most of them are careful to eat no pork nor any meat not killed in the Jewish method, which is by cutting the jugular vein in the first place, not after the animal is knocked down …. The Hebrew Sabbath begins Friday night and lasts from even to even. Public services are held in the synagogues Friday night and Saturday morning, Most of the Jews read Hebrew, although all do not speak it. As citizens, they are very orderly, the appearance of one in the police court being an unusual sight. They care for their own poor, and among themselves are very sociable and domestic in their habits.